WASHINGTON — No longer will people have to wonder if those old stamps in the bottom of the drawer are still good for postage. Nor will they have to cobble together a collection of small stamps to add up to a new price.

The Postal Regulatory Commission is recommending a new type of stamp — it's been dubbed "forever" — that sells for the first-class rate and remains valid to mail a letter no matter how much rates go up in the future.

Yesterday, the commission also recommended a 2-cent increase in first-class rates to 41 cents, a penny less than the Postal Service had sought. The panel also would sharply scale back the price of heavier letters.

"Adoption of this proposal is good for the Postal Service, postal customers and our postal system," commission chairman Dan G. Blair said at a briefing.

A forever stamp would not carry a denomination but would sell for whatever the first-class rate was at the time.

For example, if the 41-cent rate takes effect, forever stamps would sell for 41 cents. If rates later climbed to 45 cents or more, the price of the forever stamp would also go up at the counter or machine, but those purchased before the change would still be valid to mail a letter.

So there would be no need to buy small-denomination stamps to add to envelopes.

Currently, first-class mail costs 39 cents for the first ounce and 24 cents for each additional ounce.

While the first ounce would rise to 41 cents under the proposal, it would cost just 17 cents for each additional ounce.

That means the price of sending a 2-ounce letter would actually decrease from 63 cents to 58 cents.

The proposal also recommended a 2-cent boost, to 26 cents, in the cost of mailing a postcard, also a penny less than the Postal Service had sought.

Blair said the rate proposals were scaled back because the higher rates the Postal Service proposed would have raised more income than necessary for the service to break even in 2008.

The proposal also suggested changes in a variety of other rates including a 17-cent surcharge on "odd-shaped" mail that cannot be processed using letter-sorting machines.

William Burrus, president of the American Postal Workers Union, called the overall decision "a major victory for the American people." He said the union had argued for the smaller rate increase.

In addition, Burrus said, the commission agreed with his union on limiting discounts large mailers get for presorting mail.

The matter now goes back to the board of governors of the Postal Service, which can accept the recommendations or ask for reconsideration. If accepted, the new rates could take effect as soon as May.

The Postal Service applied for higher rates last May. Since then the commission has received 139 pieces of testimony from 99 witnesses and held 34 days of hearing on the request in developing its recommendations.

Under legislation approved by Congress last year, the commission will develop a new, less cumbersome system of raising rates for use in the future, and also has more authority to regulate postal activity.

Postage rates last went up in January 2006.

Postmaster General John E. Potter has pointed out that "the Postal Service is not immune to the cost pressures affecting every household and business in America."

For example, each penny increase in the price of a gallon of gasoline costs the Postal Service $8 million, and it cannot simply add a fuel surcharge to its rates.