A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Post Office...

The government has already announced they will be requiring the switch to HD television in early 2009. Those who still have an analog TV will either have to subscribe to satellite, get a new HDTV, or buy a converter box. Since the government is requiring the change, they decided to foot the bill for a converter box—how nice of them!—and send out $40 coupons to those households that request them.

The problem is that the coupons expire within 90 days (of course there's a catch!) and many of the households who have already requested them have not used them. The $1.5 billion project is faced with a small problem—they need more money for stamps.

Oh, bureaucracy.

Apparently, those folks who let their coupons expire are requesting new ones be sent out. And while the $40 isn't an issue, the cost to re-mail them could be. At this time the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) says they won't be asking Congress for more money, but they will have a better idea of their costs sometime after July 1st.

Do you think a $1.5 billion project should be requesting more money for stamps? Should those who let their coupons expire be allowed to request another one? [Yahoo]