and some delivery times to change

Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Another indication that Monticello and Jefferson County is growing: the local post office has added another route.
Effective Saturday, July 2, the number of mail delivery routes in the county went from seven to eight.
“We’re busting at the seams,” one postal employee said off the record.
This individual attributed the route change to community growth, noting that the rental cost of post office boxes also was going up.
At least three of the previous seven routes are being affected by the reconfiguration. This means that customers who are accustomed to receive their mail at a certain time may find that the mail delivery time has changed.
Officially, the local post office supervisory staff would not comment on the reason for the change, instead referring the News to Carol Hunt, a strategic communication specialist for the USPS in Dallas, Texas, to get the requested information.
After several email communications and a brief phone conversation with Hunt, however, the latter had more questions than answers and said it would take a while to research the matter. At which point, the Monticello News decided the effort wasn’t worth the time and energy.
On a related item, stamp prices are scheduled to go up effective Sunday, July 10. Among the new rates, the price of First-Class Forever stamps will go up two cents, from the current 58 cents to 60 cents.
Others of the changes that take place on July 10 include one-ounce metered letters going up from 53 to 57 cents; additional ounces going up from 20 cents to 24 cents per ounce; and domestic postcards going from 40 to 44 cents.
On it website, the Postal Service attributes the price hikes to inflation and the increasing cost of operations, saying that the price adjustments will help in the implementation of the Delivering for America plan, which includes a $40 billion investment in postal service infrastructure over the next 10 years.
The USPS has long been struggling financially, with expenses exceeding revenues by a few billions annually for more than a decade.
Experts attribute the cause to several factors. One is a drop in mail demand, which accounts for most the USPS revenues, while package demand is rising.
Another is that although USPS management has cut costs where it can, such as cutting back on employees, Congress prevents other cost-cutting measures, such as closing post offices.
Third is the exponential growth of marketing or junk mail, whose delivery costs the USPS in fuel and labor.
And lastly is employee compensation, which is costing the agency in health and pension benefits, experts say.