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When Amazon comes to town, rural post offices struggle to keep up with deliveries

Dec 11, 2023
When thousands of Amazon packages arrived overnight, it wreaked havoc on a post office in Bemidji, Minnesota.
Last year, the USPS lost $6.5 billion. Delivering for Amazon is a way the agency offsets its costs.
Daria Nipot/Getty Images

Postmaster DeJoy wanted to make a government service profitable. It's not happening.

Nov 16, 2023
This week the U.S. Postal Service announced a $6.5 billion net loss for the fiscal year ending September 30.
The USPS is a service that, historically, has almost never turned a profit. 
Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

How will USPS reform affect postal workers?

Mar 10, 2022
The organization has struggled with declining mail volume and revenue, and shouldered a costly health care plan for retirees.
A USPS mail carrier walks past the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street. The service stands to benefit from a congressional overhaul.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Some rural Americans worry about USPS cuts, closures

Jan 18, 2022
Since 2007, the United States Postal Service has reported net losses of nearly $100 billion.
Cost-saving measures for the United States Postal Service include the closure and consolidation of branches, especially in rural settings that heavily depend on the service.
Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images

Unlike last year, holiday shipping's running pretty smoothly — at least, so far

Dec 13, 2021
Gift-givers seem to be paying attention to messages urging them to ship early.
USPS and private shipping companies appear to be handling holiday shipping better than last year. Above, a FedEx worker makes deliveries in New York City.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images

Louis DeJoy on why he’s slowing mail and raising prices at the USPS: “We have no money”

Nov 17, 2021
The Postmaster General explains his controversial plan for the future of the Postal Service.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testifies during a hearing before the House Oversight and Reform Committee in 2020.
Tom Williams/Getty Images

USPS pilots a public banking program

Oct 15, 2021
The pilot program emerges more than 50 years after the USPS ceased public banking. 
A view of a U.S. post office in Bethesda, Maryland in August 2020.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

A holiday glut of packages prompts a shipping crisis for small businesses

Dec 24, 2020
Retailers are increasing shipping fees while fielding more calls from customers, asking, "Where's my package?"
Mail carriers load up their trucks at a USPS distribution center in El Paso, Texas, earlier this year.
Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images

What can Congress do about funding for the USPS and vote-by-mail efforts?

State and local budgets are hurting from the pandemic and could use the help.
U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (right), D-Md., speaks alongside fellow members of Congress outside of the headquarters of the USPS.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. Postal Service is a big employer of veterans

Aug 19, 2020
The USPS says veterans make up roughly one-sixth of its workforce.
The federal pension the USPS offers is one part of what makes the job attractive to veterans.
Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images