BY JERRY SIEBENMARK-- The Wichita EagleDate Submitted: 5/14/2007 11:24:23 AM

On Monday, local businesses will see a lot of their mailing costs go up.

That's when the first postage rate increase since January 2006 takes effect. The rate increase applies to the costs of mailing packages and first-class letters and to services such as certified mail and delivery confirmation.

The increases range from 2 cents more for a first class stamp -- 41 cents -- to $2.60 more to mail a 2-pound Express Mail package.

But one local mail handler said Friday that any effect from the rate increase will be short-lived.

Vergil Esau, owner of Handy Mailing Service, said this week has been a busy one for his company, because many of his business clients that mail first class are trying to beat Monday's increase.

"We have run probably double the volume through our shop than on a normal week," Esau said.

But it's been his experience that once the rate increase takes effect, "it will be like nothing happened," he said.

Customers quickly get used to the increases. The last increase certainly didn't hurt the volume of work at Handy Mailing.

"Our business is up," he said. "It has been up every year for the last three years."

Tom Hollingsworth, president of direct-marketing agency Results Direct Marketing, said postage rate increases could affect companies that already determined their marketing budgets.

But he doesn't expect this latest increase to cause his firm's clients to pull back.

"In our case, not really," Hollingsworth said. "Because they get such a nice return on investment using direct mail."

David Partenheimer, a U.S. Postal Service spokesman, said the rate increases will be used to offset higher operational costs, such as gas and employee health insurance.

Partenheimer pointed out that some postage rates will fall, such as a 4-cent drop in the cost to mail a 2-ounce first-class letter, and for services like electronic return receipt, which will fall 50 cents.

He said customers could lessen the impact of the rate increases by folding documents to fit in a standard envelope or mailing items in large envelopes instead of in boxes.

"If they do this on a regular basis the cost savings really add up," Partenheimer said.

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