Question: How do we obtain building permits? I heard you can do it online. What is the procedure? Is there an e-mail address? Can I view the permit online, if it's approved? Do they have a tax map key site.

Answer: You can apply for “;Internet Building Permits”; on the City and County of Honolulu's Web site.

Just go to the city Department of Planning and Permitting's Web site — dppweb.honolulu.gov/dppweb/ — click on the appropriate links and follow the directions.

You can also view permits online, although those issued before 1972 are not available. Those can only be viewed by going to the Data Access and Imaging Branch in the Honolulu Municipal Building.

You can find permits by entering the permit application number or building permit number; or by entering an address, Tax Map Key or ranges of dates.

The types of permits that can be obtained online for residential dwellings are solar, electrical, plumbing and building (air-conditioning installation and new fence). If the type of work you wish to do is not listed, you can't get a permit online, but you may submit a permit application.

You can also calculate the cost of a permit, which is tied to the estimated value of the project.

As for searching for Tax Map Keys, go to gis.hicentral.com/ and do a search under parcel zoning. Just enter an address and the TMK will appear.

AUWE

To the Postal Service in Hawaii. It is a real rip-off. I went to get some stamps from a postal box in my hotel. It said 72 cents for a stamp to Canada. But I had to put in four quarters for every stamp — a 28-cent rip off for each stamp that I bought. I bought four stamps. There was no return slot for change. — Canadian Tourist and several others purchasing stamps

Don't blame the Postal Service for this.

For one thing, it doesn't have postage stamp vending machines in hotels.

And, more significantly, it doesn't charge a fee for buying a stamp, said Lynne Moore, manager of consumer affairs for the USPS in Hawaii. The stamps are sold at face value, she said.

Vending machines operated by the Postal Service will say U.S. Postal Service and have the eagle emblem.

Meanwhile, it doesn't have any control over the reselling of the stamps by other vendors or businesses nor how much they may charge.

Moore noted that the Postal Service has stamp vending machines at its post offices, but that it has moved away from selling it via that method.

Instead, it provides books of stamps on consignment to various retailers, such as supermarkets.

Stamps sold on consignment also are sold at face value, Moore said, with the retailers offering them as a convenience to customers.

In those cases, the Postal Service would provide decals to indicate that postage stamps are available for purchase, she said.

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Write to “;Kokua Line”; at Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana, Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)