Post Office Lost $1B in 3rd Quarter

Decline in regular mail more than offsets gift shipping bump

(NEWSER) - The US Postal Service had a jaw-droppingly ugly holiday quarter, losing $3.3 billion despite a better-than-expected surge in gift shipments, the agency announced today. That's $3 billion worse than its figure for the same period in 2010, the AP reports, and at this rate the agency expects to run out of dough by October. The problem is that traditional mail delivery continues to plummet—it fell 6% in the first fiscal quarter, which ended Dec. 31. More»

Half of USPS mail processing centers to shut down this spring

(NEWSER) - Get ready to wait an extra day for the next DVD of The Wire: The mail is going to slow down. As part of its plan to save $3 billion, the cash-challenged US Postal Service will be closing roughly half of its 500 mail processing centers as soon as next March, a move that could bring new meaning to the term "snail mail," the AP reports. The plan will make next-day delivery of first-class mail a thing of the past, and deal a serious blow to things like time-sensitive magazines, mail-order prescription drugs, and Netflix. More»

(AP) - The price of a first-class stamp will rise 2 cents to 44 cents on May 11, the Postal Service said today. That leaves plenty of time to stock up on Forever Stamps, which will continue to sell at the current 42-cent rate until the increase occurs. They will remain valid in the future regardless of rate hikes. More»

On heels of announcement staving off rural closures

(AP) - The USPS is going to halt a plan to close some 600 urban and suburban postal branches, a spokesman announced today. The facilities in many cities serve as neighborhood post offices. The Postal Service announced last year that it was looking at closing up to 252 mail-processing centers and 3,700 post offices, as part of a plan to save some $6.5 billion a year. It began backing off the plan last week , saying it no longer planned to close thousands of rural post offices but would keep them open with shorter hours. More»

But they'll have shorter operating hours

(AP) - Good news for those living in Very, Very Small Town, USA. Hundreds of rural post offices will indeed remain open, the USPS announced today, albeit with shorter hours. The new plan will save the mail agency half a billion dollars each year while addressing concerns of rural residents most opposed to post office closings, says Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. More»