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Health & Fitness

A 'Penny' For My Thoughts

A penny hides much deeper postage problems.

A penny?

That was the United States Postal Service (USPS) . This is not a government department, it is a non-profit.

Maybe the public affairs USPS people are not in close contact with the people who actually run the operation.

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has been dire from local postal officials.

Saturday service hangs from a thread. No Saturday service anywhere, looms.

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Hundreds of post offices could be shut down, according to postal leadership, including the .

Yet the USPS price makers answer these profound challenges with a thundering cent.

Now, the American public will be asked to dig deep into its collective pockets and shell out 45 cents for every first-class stamp instead of 44 cents.

Anybody who buys a Forever stamp now will never pay any increases in the future.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahue said the “small” increase would help with current expenses. This is an understatement. Fact is there is no smaller increase possible. A penny is not divisible.

Ah, but there are other increases that net the USPS more money. Domestic letters of 1 ounce or less go up to 45 cents, but added ounces stay at 20 cents. However, there is a 3 cent increase in postcards for a new rate of 32 cents. Canada or Mexico letters will rise 5 cents to 85 cents and other international letters will rise 7 cents to $1.05.

More mailing services like Standard Mail, Periodicals, Package Services and Extra Service also went up.

In all, the USPS price hike was 2.1 percent.

Why so modest? Because federal law holds postal increases to the Consumer Price Index, 2.1 percent is the total allowed this year. That is what the Postal Regulation Commission pronounced on Oct. 18.

In the big picture, the 2012 Integrated Financial Plan looks no brighter. It forecasts $64 billion in revenue and expenses of $67 billion.

More cuts are certain, according to these figures. Regulations bar any big revenue – 2.1 percent is the legal limit – and pretty much dictate that the postage service is going extinct.

More than throwing another penny at the issue, postal officials need to take their case to Congress and the president before the crippled postal service becomes unfixable.

Congress, thankfully, will make it a big war.

This topic – deciding the future of communication – needs a broad stage.

It is not just a penny argument.

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