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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Saturday Mail Delivery to End, Postal Service Announces

The U.S. Postal Service announced it will end Saturday mail delivery by Aug. 1. Speak out: How will this affect you?

  Calling the six-days-per-week mail delivery business model “no longer sustainable,” the U.S. Postal Service Wednesday morning announced it will eliminate Saturday delivery of mail by Aug. 1. The plan to change delivery from six days a week to five would only affect first-class mail. Packages, mail-order medicines, priority and express mail would still be delivered on Saturdays, and local post offices will remain open for business Saturdays. According to the U.S. Postal Service, the reasons are continued economic struggles and the increasing use of the Internet for communications and bill paying by consumers. The U.S. Postal Service is also the only federal agency required to pre-fund health benefits for retirees, and those costs are …

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Stamp Prices Increase: What You Need to Know for Your Next Trip to the Post Office

First-class postal rates are going up for the second time in two years.

  While the volume of first-class mail has dropped sharply, from an all-time high of 213 billion pieces in 2006 to only 168 billion in 2011, according to New York Times story, the United States Post Service (USPS) is struggling, showing a loss of $36 million per day. The most prominent way for the USPS to recover revenue is to raise postage and mailing rates. Since 1885, when the price for the first ounce of a first-class letter was $0.02, rates have increased 24 times and will jump to $0.46 as of Sunday, January 27, 2013. According to a press release from the USPS, the price of a Forever Stamp - which allows a customer to send a one-ounce letter anywhere in the United States - will go up one penny to $0.46. Each additional ounce of a …

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