What does it say that the U.S. Postal Service actually rolled out its idea for a "forever" stamp in May 2006, and it's only now being delivered as news? (See www.usps.com/communications/news/

press/2006/pr06_031.htm).

And what does it say that people are heralding this development as a big convenience and savings to your average Joe consumer? Perhaps it's proof that the Postal Service is hoping consumers buy their sizzle and don't notice the missing steak.

The real news is that the Postal Service has proposed the second postal rate hike in 14 months. The last one went into effect in January 2006. This one could go into effect in May.

On Monday, the U.S Postal Regulatory

Commission recommended a 2-cent hike in the price of a first-class stamp, to 41 cents. That's a penny less than the agency had asked for. Postal authorities made much of the fact that heavier letters wouldn't need more postage. But pretty much everything else - packages, certified mail, money orders and bulk mail - would. Like those octagon-shaped wedding announcements? The Postal Service also wants to slap a 17-cent surcharge on odd-shaped envelopes because they don't zip through their processing machines.

According to the agency we love to razz, "The Forever Stamp is a nondenominated, non-expiring stamp issued as a convenience for single-piece retail mailers. The stamp would be valid for the first-ounce First-Class Mail letter postage regardless of the actual rate on the date of use."

So, let's recap: If you buy a whole bunch of these stamps in bulk on the eve of a rate change, you have successfully ducked that rate change, at least for a while. That's good news for businesses that send a whole lot of mail. Of course, once they ran out of the "forever" stamp, they would pay more.

If you don't send much mail, it's also a way to dodge the increase because the forever stamps hold their value as first-class postage through future rate changes. So, good news for e-mailers who send "snail mail" once in a great while: Buy a lifetime supply of forever stamps now and hope that you don't lose them or use them up.

However, the savings are nominal if you are among the dying breed that sends bills, letters, cards and other actual "snail mail."

Unresolved is the question of how often and whether "forever" stamps will be updated with new, different editions at the same rate.

And let's clear up an errant bit of buzz: The forever stamp has nothing to do with resolving the question of which of the old unused stamps around your house still are usable. They are, as long as their combined value, when pasted to a piece of mail, equals the current postal rate.

For example, one regular writer of letters to the editor sends hand-written letters using stamps that are decades old. We've received his letters in envelopes stamped with bicentennial commemoratives from 1976 and the 100-year observance of the start of the Civil War, issued in 1961. It's a delight to see those old stamps back in action.

U.S. stamps already are valid forever; it's the postal rate that changes with increasing frequency. But with no denomination on the forever stamps, perhaps we won't notice it as much. In fact, our guess is that the Postal Service is counting on that.