The Postal Service will begin selling prepaid telephone cards

The Postal Service will begin selling prepaid telephone cards issued by American Express in seven markets, a test venture that will lead the agency into the potentially lucrative field of debit cards.

Postal officials confirmed plans for the test yesterday, saying the agency's lawyers had approved the project and had predicted the 18-month test would turn a profit. The plastic telephone cards are sold for a specific dollar value of long distance calls, with access codes that allow the calls to be made from any telephone.

In the past, the Postal Service has had mixed success selling items other than stamps and mail services. Some of the agency's 40,000 post offices sell packing equipment and ...