NEW RATES. NEW STAMPS. NO PROBLEM. With new postage rates effective on Sunday, June 30, it's never been easier or more convenient to get the stamps you'll need. Postage stamps are available online from The Postal Store at usps.com, by calling toll free 1-800-STAMP-24, at thousands of ATM's and supermarkets and, of course, at your local Post Office. In addition to individual stamps, The Postal Store is offering "Rate Change Kits" containing rate change stamps in various formats (coils, panes and booklets), along with a handy, wallet-size rate card.

  DUCK STAMP EVENT. USPS will begin selling the new Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation stamp - popularly known as the Duck stamp - on July 1 nationwide. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior will issue the stamp formally at the National Postal Museum in Washington, DC, at 10 a.m. July 1. The ceremony is free and open to the public.

The Duck stamp is issued in two formats: a gummed pane of 20 stamps, and a self-adhesive single stamp issued on a dollar-bill-size sheet. This year's stamp features a painting of a Black Scoter by wildlife artist Joseph Hautman, whose artwork was selected through the annual art competition sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Hautman will attend the July 1 ceremony.

The Duck stamp is priced at $15. It is a hunting permit rather than a postage stamp, but its sale through Post Offices attracts many stamp collectors. It is also available through 1-800-STAMP-24 and at www.usps.com/shop.

  PARS COMING. USPS awarded a contract to Siemens Dematic to automate the handling of undeliverable-as-addressed mail with a system called PARS - the Postal Automated Redirection System. PARS has the ability to identify and intercept letters that are undeliverable-as-addressed, at origin, during their initial handling on automated equipment. This mail is then processed on equipment that automatically applies the new mailing address label.

Roughly 17 percent of the nation's population moves each year, resulting in about 43 million change-of-address cards and over 5 billion pieces of mail that must be either forwarded, returned to sender or handled alternatively. The total cost attributed to this activity exceeds $1.5 billion annually. Phase I for PARS deployment - beginning July 2003 and scheduled for completion in May 2004 - will include 53 processing plants covering nearly one-fourth of all forwarded letters.

  NEW REFORM MEASURE VOTED DOWN. The Postal Service expressed disappointment that the movement of critical reform legislation doesn't appear possible during the closing months of this Congress after the House Committee on Government Reform last week voted down a new postal reform measure, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. Regardless, USPS promises to continue doing everything possible within the limits of existing law to protect the right of every American to affordable, accessible, universal mail service.

  SUPPLY MANAGEMENT. Purchasing and Materials has been restructured and renamed Supply Management, reflecting the success of supply chain management (SCM) as a business strategy. In the last fiscal year, SCM-related cost reductions and avoidance totaled over $150 million.