This past week, the USPS announced plans to stop Saturday mail delivery. They’ve apparently offered this service since 1863, but it will soon be a thing of the past.
Sadly, even this relatively drastic move will do little to solve their financial woes. These problems are largely a byproduct of being told to operate as an independent business while being subject to strict Congressional oversight (read: meddling).
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. One thing seems certain: this isn’t the last we’ll be hearing about service changes as the USPS struggles to remain viable.
And now… Here are some articles that caught my eye this past week:
- Tax Breaks for 2012 – This is a nice rundown of tax breaks that shouldn’t be overlooked when preparing your 2012 tax return.
- Hidden Inflation – Even when prices aren’t increasing, there’s a good chance you’re dealing with inflation — especially at the grocery store.
- Diversify Bonds Funds with CDs – There’s nothing wrong with holding cash when the yields are better than riskier bonds.
- How to Value Your Business – This is a handy read for small biz owners who are wondering how to estimate the value of their business.
- Beware of Backtested Stock Market Strategies – Always remember: past performance is no guarantee of future results.
- Can I Live Like a Millionaire? – Save hard, live on less, and work long. For the record, 1 million GBP is roughly 1.58 million USD.
And finally, the Tax Carnival included my post on tax diversification using a mix of traditional and Roth accounts. That’s it. Hope you’re having a great weekend.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Here’s a thought for USPS: adopt the freemium model. Make first class mail free for non-commercial users. Double or triple the rate for commercial mails.
Interesting idea, but probably difficult to implement in practice. Also, they’re not allowed to raise postage rates faster than inflation so the law would have to change.
If they were simply allowed to charge enough to cover their costs then:
(1) they wouldn’t be in such a tough position, and
(2) competitors might enter the space.
Both would be positive developments.
Thanks for the mention!
I’m with you in that stopping Saturday mail is going to do little/nothing to solve the problem of losing money. I at least give them credit for still delivering packages on Saturdays, otherwise UPS/FedEx would jump in even more so and take away revenue.
Jon: They don’t actually have a choice in the matter, as Congress won’t let them back away from six-day-a-week delivery. Continuing with packages satisfies that.
Also, packages are apparently the most profitable part of their business so perhaps it makes sense for them to continue that aspect — though they’ll still have to run routes on an extra day.