POSTAL SERVICE MAY SEAL FATE OF SMALL FIRMS.

Byline: Ken Ward On Business

Uncle Sam's ``Pack and Send'' service has small business crying uncle.

The test program hasn't hit Los Angeles yet, but Ron Freeman, owner of American Mail and Parcel Service in Panorama City, says it's bad news for his trade.

``Government agencies shouldn't be competing with us. The Postal Service is infringing on the small businesses that invented this service,'' he said.

Freeman and his colleagues in the Coalition Against Unfair USPS Competition say it's one thing for postal employees to sell boxes, but another to pay staffers to prepare and package parcels.

``It's way over the line,'' Freeman said.

Postal officials don't see it that way.

``It's a convenience for our customers,'' said Jim Mruk, a Chicago-based spokesman, noting some of the 200 participating post offices will even gift-wrap presents.

``We're in a highly competitive communications world of faxes, e-mail and telephones. That all cuts into our business. To keep our prices down, we need to come up with new services.''

The Postal Service no longer receives direct support from the government and must be more entrepreneurial, Mruk says.

The pack-and-ship shops have no problem with entrepreneurship. They're just not happy about competition from a public agency.

``Who knows what other businesses they'll go into?'' Freeman asked.

The end result might come down to service. And on this score, the private sector might still have the edge. These shippers customarily offer the full range of parcel carriers, their prices are competitive, and their lines usually move faster.

As Freeman noted: ``If everyone had been satisfied with the Postal Service to begin with, we couldn't have gotten into this.''

The Nigerian investment scam continues to rattle around the San Fernando Valley.

Detailed in the Daily News on Oct. 13, the long-distance fraud involves letters sent to U.S. companies. Authored by less-than-upstanding Nigerian nationals, the letters promise recipients millions of dollars if they will send back their bank address, account name and telephone, fax and telex numbers.

The pitch: A U.S. account is needed to stash huge sums of cash, and the recipient is promised a percentage.

The catch: There is no cash, except what the scam artists can siphon out of the account.

Area business owners have called to say they continue to receive such solicitations.

And in this month's issue of the Nation's Business magazine, Arc Machines Vice President Richard Shilling writes from Pacoima: ``My company gets such letters regularly. We received as many as three in one week. The latest promises us 30 percent of $41.5 million. Such a deal!

``We have complained to the U.S. departments of Commerce and State. Others have protested to the Nigerian government, evidently with little or no effect.''

Speaking of scams: Not all 800 numbers are created equal.

The Better Business Bureau reports a growing rip-off involving the 809 area code. The scam works a couple of ways:

An e-mail message gives 24 hours to ``settle an outstanding account.'' To avoid court costs, the recipient is directed to call a number with an 809 area code.

A phone or pager message asks the recipient to call an 809 number. It may sound like a family emergency or a prize offering.

In each case, dialing the designated number rings up an automatic $25 charge.

Because 809 is in the Virgin Islands, it is not covered by U.S. regulations for 900 numbers, which require notification of charges for pay-per-call exchanges. Unlike 900 numbers, 809 area codes cannot be blocked.