Still, the U.S. Postal Service’s price hike to 39 cents for a first-class stamp left many scrambling this week to find 2-cent stamps to make up the difference for all their leftover 37-cent versions.

Despite some complaints that the 2-cent “makeup” stamps were hard to find, customers at the county’s main post office branch on Harrisburg Pike Wednesday night were largely undisturbed by the price hike or the extra trip to buy stamps.

Rebecca Good of Manheim Township bought 2-cent stamps at the post office Wednesday night after failing to find them at three different supermarkets.

“It’s no big deal. It’s been a long time since I’ve been here,” Good said. “I do banking online, so I have a lot of 37-cent stamps left over.”

Lou DiPerna, Lancaster postmaster, said the transition to the new rate &tstr; the first increase in nearly four years &tstr; has gone smoothly. He said postal workers repeatedly reminded customers of the pending hike and have been selling the new 39-cent stamp for about a month.

The Lancaster post office has sold more than 200,000 of 2-cent stamps and had plenty available Wednesday, DiPerna said, adding that few customers have complained about the hike.

“I think people know this was not our decision,” DiPerna said. “We could have gone another year without a hike, but Congress mandated that the post office put $3.1 billion in escrow now.”

Congress mandated the escrow requirement in 2003 when it passed a law reducing the amount of money the Postal Service has to pay into its retirement system, which auditors said was being overfunded. Instead, Congress ordered the extra money be put into the escrow fund.

Though there has been ample notice of the rate increase, DiPerna said there will undoubtedly be many letters mailed with the 37-cent stamp after Sunday. Postal workers use discretion when dealing with insufficient postage, he said.

“We offer a grace period and won’t start looking hard at the postage on letters until Thursday or Friday,” DiPerna said.

After that, letters with insufficient postage will either be sent back or the addressee will be asked to pay the additional postage.

“It depends on where the letter originated,” DiPerna said.

“If it comes from California, we’re not going to send it back. But Lancaster-to-Lancaster mail will go back for insufficient postage.”

Mark Hnasko, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service’s Central Pennsylvania District, said his office prepared for the hike, and the region has plenty of stamps available.

“Unlike other areas of the country, we have stamps available,” Hnasko said. “If a post office runs out of 2-cent stamps in Lancaster, they can get more from Harrisburg the next day.”

But while stamps were readily available at the post office, many other stamp outlets weren’t so lucky.

A clerk at the UPS Store on Centerville told customers 2-cent stamps were available only in books of 100.

Supermarkets are the second-most common place to buy stamps, behind the post office, but many locally were sold out of stamps Wednesday.

Some chain stores in Lancaster, such as Giant, Redner’s and Weis, reported having no stamps at all.

Independent stores fared better. Darrenkamp’s in Willow Street and Yoder’s in New Holland had the 2-cent stamps.

Weaver’s in Adamstown offered both 2-cent and 39-cent stamps.

Brisk business at the main post office saw most customers rushing in then out after purchasing their makeup stamps.

But some lingered to affix the added postage to bills and other correspondence.

Julie Walsh of Lancaster perused several automated stamp machines before finding one from which she could get a dozen 2-cent stamps.

“It’s not really an issue. I knew they were going up, and I’m dealing with it,” Walsh said. “In the grand scheme of things, a 2-cent increase is not the worst that could happen.”

Other postal increases include: - Post cards: up 1 cent to 24 cents. - Express mail: minimum charge increased to $11.30 from $10.70. - Priority mail: minimum charge increased to $4.05 from $3.85. - Parcel post: minimum rate raised to $2.96 from $2.81. - Certified mail: boosted to $2.40 from $2.30.