US Postal Service

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On Chopping Block: 3,700 Post Offices

Struggling USPS plans downsizing

(Newser) - The struggling US Postal Service could close 3,700 post offices starting in January, a full 11% of its retail operations and the largest downsizing in the agency's history. The targeted offices span 49 states. The exception: Delaware, which has only one post office for every 12,000 people....

America's Future: Mail Delivery Just 3 Days a Week

At least, that's what the postmaster general predicts

(Newser) - We live in the age of instant communication, thanks to Skype, Twitter, smartphones, and three-day-a-week mail delivery? That could be our odd reality in as few as 15 years, according to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. In comments made to USA Today , Donahue explains that the Postal Service is anticipating an...

USPS Offers Sneak Peek of 2012 Stamps

So far, stamps commemorate DC cherry blossoms, creator of Tarzan

(Newser) - Want to be the first to know what next year's stamps will look like? The post office is offering a sneak peek at some of the postage it plans to issue in 2012. You can preview the stamps on the Postal Service's Facebook or Twitter pages, and they...

Stamp Honors Lady Liberty ...Using Vegas Replica

Photo of casino replica used to mark statue's 125th anniversary

(Newser) - A sharp-eyed collector spotted a small problem with the US Post Office's new stamp celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty: Officials used a picture of the wrong statue. The Lady Liberty that graces the stamp is actually that of the replica that stands outside the New...

Why I'll Always Love Snail Mail
 Why I'll Always Love Snail Mail 
OPINION
Feb 3, 2011 1:29 PM CST

Why I'll Always Love Snail Mail

Meghan Daum: Email's great, but the real stuff can be 'magical'

(Newser) - News that the postal service has to cut back even further has Meghan Daum feeling a little glum about her beloved snail mail. "This love affair began decades ago, back when the 'snail' qualifier wasn't necessary," she writes in the Los Angeles Times . She'd sort the mail as...

US May Close Thousands of Post Offices

More than half of the existing US branches will be reviewed

(Newser) - After deciding to close 491 post offices last year, the struggling US Postal Service will add as many as 2,000 additional branches to that tally beginning in March. Another 16,000 unprofitable ones will also be reviewed, as the USPS pushes Congress to allow them to close the worst...

Package Ignites at DC Postal Facility

It's similar to yesterday's devices in Maryland

(Newser) - Police say a package ignited at a DC postal facility today, a day after two fiery packages were opened in Maryland. No injuries have been reported in Washington. The DC package is similar to the Maryland parcels, which contained a message complaining about electronic highway road signs that asked motorists...

All First-Class Stamps to Be Marked 'Forever'

Say goodbye to first-class stamps marked with postage values

(Newser) - No more struggling with one-cent stamps every time the Post Office raises the price of mailing a letter. Beginning in January, all stamps for 1-ounce, first-class mail will simply be marked "forever." Forever Stamps were first issued in 2007 and designed for use regardless of changes in postal...

Here's One Idea to Save the Postal Service
Here's One Idea to Save
the Postal Service
OPINION
Dec 18, 2010 11:41 AM CST

Here's One Idea to Save the Postal Service

Op-ed: Put sensors on trucks to help forecast the weather

(Newser) - The Postal Service is going broke , but one potential money-maker for the agency is riding around in plain sight: all those mail trucks. They already go everywhere, so why not stick small sensors on them "to collect and transmit information about weather or air pollutants?" suggests an official with...

Congress Spends Its Time Naming Post Offices
Congress Spends Its Time Naming Post Offices
analysis
Aug 24, 2010 11:21 AM CDT

Congress Spends Its Time Naming Post Offices

You'd imagine they had something better to do

(Newser) - You might think the most pressing issue facing Congress is the economy, or terrorism, or global warming, or immigration. But you’d be wrong. “Nope, the biggest problem facing America today is … the desperate lack of appropriately named post offices,” writes John Merline for AolNews . He combed...

5 Ways Facebook Could Fail

 5 Ways Facebook 
 Could Fail 
Jul 25, 2010 5:11 AM CDT

5 Ways Facebook Could Fail

How the giant may be slain

(Newser) - Facebook, which this week welcomed its 500 millionth user , is the undisputed king of the Internet. But, warns Ryan Singel on Wired , other giants (think: Friendster, Geocities) have fallen. Here are some of Facebook's potential foes:
  • Open Sourcing—New ventures like Diaspora, OneSocialWeb, the Appleseed Project, and WebFinger are experimenting
...

Raising the Price of Stamps Is Smart
 Raising the Price 
 of Stamps Is Smart 
opinion
Jul 7, 2010 12:02 PM CDT

Raising the Price of Stamps Is Smart

Businesses have to get smarter about snail mail

(Newser) - The Postal Service's proposal to raise the price of stamps to 46 cents has set off the usual complaints, but Daniel Gross at Slate thinks it's a smart move. The current system is way too bloated, and a price increase might once and for all force junk mailers and department...

Post Office to Beg for Another Rate Hike Today

Just 14 months since the last hike to 44 cents for first class

(Newser) - The Postal Service, gushing red ink like the Deepwater Horizon is oil, wants to raise the price of postage again—barely a year after the last rate hike. Today it's scheduled to announce how much it'll be looking for from the independent Postal Regulatory Commission for review.

20,000 Letters Found in Missing Mailman's Garage

Some of the undelivered mail dates back to 1997

(Newser) - When a Philadelphia mailman didn't show up for work several days in a row last month, postal officials got worried. So they paid a visit to his home, little suspecting what they'd find there: roughly 20,000 undelivered and unopened pieces of mail, some dating to 1997. Paychecks, bills, and...

Postal Service Moves to Halt Saturday Delivery

Long-awaited plan would save $3.3B

(Newser) - The Postal Service will eliminate Saturday delivery in early 2011 and save $3.3 billion in just the first year of the new schedule, according to a regulatory filing. The cutback has been contemplated for some time, but today's announcement marks the first USPS confirmation of the exact plan, which...

Pot Smugglers Prefer Postal Service

Shipments through the mail have shot up in recent years

(Newser) - Pot traffickers are increasingly realizing that there's no need to risk hauling their drugs across the country—they can just have the US Postal Service do it for them. Seizures of marijuana by postal inspectors have increased 400% since 2007. More than 3,600 packages with marijuana were found in...

Post Office Wants to Drop Saturday Delivery

'Neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of night... but screw weekends'

(Newser) - Soon, you may not have to check your mail on Saturday. The Postal Service wants to switch to delivering mail just five days a week, in an effort to rein in its runaway debt, USA Today reports. Postmaster General John Potter says he’ll submit a formal request for the...

Champagne Arrives in Mail, 24 Years Late

Father's birthday gift comes a quarter-century after it's mailed

(Newser) - Frank Digoria thought his dad was "flipping out" when he received a bottle of champagne in the mail from him in January. Not only was his birthday a month past, but the card from Frank Sr. also mentioned a now-deceased wife. Turns out, Frank Sr. sent the bottle in...

SANTA BABY, DID U GET MY TXT?

AT&T rolls out new way to contact the man in red

(Newser) - After last year’s pedophile scare, the Postal Service has cracked down on adults who want to reply to kids’ letters to Santa—and AT&T is stepping in to keep the lines of communication open. Naughty and nice correspondents of all ages who want a speedy reply from jolly...

Post Office Drops North Pole Letter Program

Cancellation infuriates Santa's helpers in Alaska town

(Newser) - Furious North Pole residents are accusing the Postal Service of playing Grinch by ending its letters to Santa program—because it attracted a sex offender. Since 1954, the Postal Service has happily sent letters to Santa to North Pole, Alaska, where volunteers respond and mail them back with a North...

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