When the United States Postal Service floated the idea of taking away Saturday mail delivery, Americans basically gasped and yowled, “Noo! You can’t!” We love getting mail every day but Sunday, downright adore it, but… why? That’s a lot harder to explain. [More]
USPS
My Post Office Stacks Mailed Packages On Lobby Floor, Shrugs
By 2.3.14
Reader C. visited the post office recently, and what he saw upset him. The good news was that his post office was doing brisk business. It was early in the morning still, but it received a lot of packages. The bad news was that these packages were piled on the floor in the lobby. [More]
Senator Endorses USPS Plan To Enter Financial Services Arena, Offer Payday Lending Alternative
By 2.3.14
With traditional banking institutions finally out of the payday lending game, who’s left to swoop in to take care of the unbanked? Apparently, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) thinks the United States Postal Service has what it takes. [More]
Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman: Helping Customers Through The Mega-Bureaucracy Of The Mail Since 1998
By 1.31.14
The post office might be one of the most incomprehensible bureaucracies in the country. It is, on the one hand, a massive network spanning every state, county, and city in the nation. It is also, on the other hand, hyper-local: for most of us, letter carriers literally come right up to the front door six days a week. [More]
Can Postal Service Stay Alive By Cashing Checks & Selling Prepaid Debit Cards?
By 1.28.14
The once-great US Postal Service continues to sink into obscurity and financial oblivion, a destiny that will probably not be saved by all the postage stamp price increases in the world. But could the USPS keep its head above water by offering the financial services that are generally reserved for run-down strip malls? [More]
Your Eyes Do Not Deceive You: USPS Price Hike Brings Cost Of A First-Class Stamp To $0.49
By 1.27.14
Remember when it only cost a quarter to instantly get in touch with someone from a payphone? Then we all got nostalgic when the price started creeping up, until cell phones made that fond remembrance less of misty, water-colored memory. Now it costs almost two quarters to send a less-than-instant letter or card, with the new price of first-class stamps rising from $0.46 to $0.49. Kick in, nostalgia! [More]
Were These Gift Cards Stolen, Or Gobbled By The Mail-Sorting Machine?
By 12.19.13
We were very sad to read about a family in St. Louis who opened up a Christmas card from Grandma only to find $350 in Walmart gift cards missing. The victim took his story to the local news, assuming that the cards had been stolen at some point after mailing. That’s certainly possible, since human beings are terrible. There’s another possibility, though. [More]
As U.S. Postal Service Sinks Into Irrelevance, It Seeks Hope In the Bottom Of A Bottle
By 12.19.13
Like too many once-great leaders who have been knocked from their pedestals by the disruptive forces of time and progress, the U.S. Postal Service is turning to wine and spirits while trying to hold on to the belief that it still has a future in the world that has outgrown it. [More]
Insider Holiday Mailing Advice From A U.S. Postal Service Worker
By 12.10.13 — Updated: 11.29.16
The United States Postal Service shared some useful holiday mailing tips with us a few weeks ago, with some sensible suggestions to help you get your packages to their destinations faster and with a minimum of fuss. An anonymous postal worker complimented that list, but told us that she had some additions of her own: insights that can only come from behind the counter. [More]
Here’s How Your Kid Can Write To Santa Claus And Get A Response From The North Pole
By 12.6.13
Santa Claus is real, so that’s not up for debate. But because he is kind of devoted to email these days instead of old-fashioned letter writing, the United States Postal Service has decided to help out to make sure your kid can send a letter to Santa and get a personal snailmail response from the North Pole. [More]
Vegas Lady Liberty Sculptor Sues USPS Two Years After It Used The Wrong Image On Stamp
By 12.3.13
Two years ago the United States Postal Service admitted it made a huge mistake by issuing a “Forever” stamp featuring the Statue of Liberty. Not that Lady Liberty isn’t the perfect subject for a stamp, but because the agency used an image of a replica sculpture from a Las Vegas Casino. Back then it was all “shrug, everyone likes it so we’ll keep it.” Here is where what goes around appears to be coming around. [More]
“Don’t Guess The ZIP Code” And 8 More USPS Tips To Avoid Holiday Shipping Glitches
By 11.27.13
Whether you’re heading out into the Black Thursday maelstrom or waiting until later, if you’ve got loved ones who don’t live near enough for an in-person gift delivery, odds are you’ll be doing some shipping this holiday season. But there’s nothing worse than a present that shows up banged, dinged or never at all. The U.S. Postal Service doesn’t want that either, so it’s offering up a few handy tips to avoid shipping glitches. [More]
You’ve Got A 1-In-10 Chance Of Receiving A Mangled Package This Holiday Season
By 11.22.13
In the next few weeks, a lot of us will be ordering items online — whether for ourselves or for others — and having them shipped somewhere, hoping beyond hope that these parcels don’t get lost, stolen, drop-kicked, or run through a Blendtec just to see what happens. A recent study of packages received from e-commerce sites finds that you shouldn’t be terribly shocked if the box shows up looking worse for wear. [More]
Some Collectors Peeved At USPS’ Decision To Feature Harry Potter On Stamps
By 11.20.13
Not everyone is in love with the boy wizard: After the United States Postal Service unveiled its newest collection of stamps featuring characters from the Harry Potter movies, some collectors are ticked off. “Harry Potter is not American. It’s foreign, and it’s so blatantly commercial it’s off the charts,” said one. “The Postal Service knows what will sell, but that’s not what stamps ought to be about. Things that don’t sell so well are part of the American story.” [via the Washington Post] [More]
Cash-Strapped USPS Gets Lucky With New Amazon Sunday Delivery
By 11.12.13
The United States Postal Service has been struggling to make money for some time now, but ho! What is that yonder, in the distance? Could it be a knight in shining armor, riding in to save this damsel in distress? And what is the male version of a damsel? Anyway, Amazon is rolling out Sunday package delivery and it’s granted USPS the contract to carry it out. [More]
Postal Worker Pleads Guilty To Stealing $450,000 Worth Of Mailed Jewelry
By 10.28.13
Pawn shops in the Cash America chain sent packages including precious jewelry to a repair and refurbishment center Fort Worth, Texas, but starting in 2011, many packages never reached their destination. Why was that? It took a two-year investigation to find the culprit, a worker at a processing and distribution center in North Texas. He pleaded guilty this week in federal court. [More]
Mail Carrier Decides The Best Way To Get To Customer’s Door Is To Drive Over The Front Yard
By 10.4.13
Why walk somewhere when you can drive? That was apparently the thinking employed by a United States Postal Service worker who drove over a customer’s front yard instead of walking up to the home’s porch to deliver a small package. And the whole thing was of course, caught on video, or we’d be none the wiser. [More]
USPS Seeks Price Increase On Stamps, Pays Futurist $565K To Mull Over Future Of Stamps
By 9.25.13
You know those stamps you use maybe once or twice a month? They could soon be slightly more expensive after the USPS Board of Governors has requested a three-cent price increase on first-class stamps in order to combat the expected $6 billion in losses this year. But since the USPS is already planning on losing that huge pile of cash anyway, why not throw another $565,000 toward some futurist firm that can ponder the destiny of the once-beloved postage stamp. [More]
