STAMPS UP A CENT TODAY; FIRST-CLASS LETTER TO COST 33 CENTS.

Byline: Geoffrey Tomb Knight Ridder Newspapers

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night is going to halt today's penny increase in the cost of a regular first-class stamp and the one-cent add on has caught most consumers with their postage down.

``I had no idea they were about to do this,'' complained Leanna Zeltzer last week as she left a San Jose post office with a roll of 100 new 33-cent stamps.

Here's the news: Effective today the cost to mail a regular first-class letter will go up from 32 to 33 cents.

There is no grace period.

Starting today, all letters must have either the new 33-cent first-class rate series ``H'' stamps - a nondenominational issue featuring Uncle Sam's red, white and blue hat - or have a one-cent stamp with your old 32-cent denomination.

The new one-cent makeup stamps are blue and show a rooster on a weather vane. The rooster does not appear to be crowing.

New stamps with the 33-cent denomination will be issued in the future.

To soften the hit, the one-cent hike applies only to first-class letters weighing one ounce or less. Postage for the second ounce will go down a penny to 22 cents, keeping the price of a two-ounce letter at 55 cents.

Still, the vast majority of mail weighs an ounce or less.

ORDER BY MAIL

To order by phone, call (800) STAMP24. Have a credit card ready.