Post-Holiday Retail Items Now on Sale

Several holiday-themed retail products are marked down 50 percent from the original price at your local Post Office.

The sale includes ReadyPost supplies that feature designs of the comic strip Peanuts or Evergreens. The sale on ReadyPost supplies expires January 14.

The “Let It Snow” CD, featuring 11 holiday favorites from contemporary and classic stars, and the holiday classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” DVD also are on sale. The CD costs $7.49 and each DVD is $6.49. The DVD/CD sale will continue throughout January.

You can find great deals on greeting cards. All holiday boxed greeting cards have been marked 50 percent off original prices. Individual holiday cards are not included in the sale.

2011 Revenue Outlook Shortchanged

According to the FY 2010 Annual Report, the revenue outlook worsened after the Postal Regulatory Commission’s rejection of the Postal Service’s request for an exigent price increase. This increase, if approved, would have generated approximately $2 billion in additional revenue in 2011. Although the Postal Service has decided to appeal this ruling, no decision is likely to occur in time to impact 2011. Thus, the revenue outlook for 2011 is largely dependent on the course of the economy and, to a lesser extent, revenue initiatives.

Although the economy is largely responsible for the recent revenue and volume decrease, electronic diversion presents on ongoing, long-term challenge, particularly with respect to First-Class Mail.

First-Class and Standard Mail account for 94% of total mail volume. First-Class Mail is expected to continue its long-term decline, while Standard Mail is expected to grow slowly. Total mail volume is expected to be virtually flat in 2011, and then show steady growth beginning in 2012 as the economy continues to recover, but is unlikely to ever return to the peak 2006 levels.

For 2011, the Postal Service projects revenue to be flat versus 2010. Revenue will see a small boost from the recently announced Shipping Services price increases offset by First-Class Mail declines.

First-Class Mail volume is expected to decline during 2011. Even when employment, consumer spending, and capital investment recover, the growing use of the Internet and other electronic means of communication will continue to suppress mail growth. First-Class single-piece letters have been in decline for more than a decade and are expected to continue to decline in both the short- and long-term.

Standard Mail volume has fallen by approximately 20% since peaking in 2007. For 2011, Standard Mail revenue and volume are expected to begin a slow rebound.

Periodicals volume is projected to decrease modestly in 2011. While the projected declines in Periodicals are not as dramatic as some other mail categories, they represent the continuation of a long-term trend.

Shipping Services revenue and volume are expected to increase in 2011. This entire group is influenced by competitors’ prices, which often include fuel surcharges, and by our own advertising and promotional initiatives.

Lunar New Year Stamp has Kumquats for Luck

On January 22, the U.S. Postal Service will issue the fourth of twelve stamps in its Celebrating Lunar New Year series, which began in 2008 with the Year of the Rat. The Year of the Rabbit begins on February 3, 2011, and ends on January 22, 2012.

The Lunar New Year is celebrated primarily by people of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan, and Mongolian heritage in many parts of the world. In the United States, as elsewhere, the occasion is marked in various ways across a diverse array of cultures. Parades, parties, and other special events are common.

Kumquats, such as those depicted in the stamp art, are given as gifts and eaten for luck at this time of renewed hope for the future.

They're 'Puppy Love' and 'the Cat's Meow'

Last year’s release of Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet stamps appears to have created a strong case of puppy love with customers.

The stamps, featuring photographs of five cats and five dogs from animal shelters and rescue groups, earned the “Reader’s Pick from 2010” award for the best stamps of last year as voted by reader’s of Beyond the Perf — the Postal Service’s online complement to the USA Philatelic catalog. To view a list of the winners, go to http://www.beyondtheperf.com/content/readers-picks-2010.

To date, customers have purchased a total of 13.4 million panes, generating more than $117 million. An average commemorative stamp printing is 65 million individual stamps. USPS initially printed 300 million Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet stamps — 4.5 times more than average.

“Sales of the stamps exceeded expectations,” said Stamp Services Manager Dave Failor. “USPS minted an additional 100 million stamps to meet demand — the only commemorative stamps within the past five years to receive a reprinting.”

The Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet stamps continued the Postal Service’s half-century tradition of promoting attention and awareness of national social issues. The stamps received a boost from talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, a well-known advocate for pet adoption — and Halo, a pet food company she co-owns. After introducing the stamps on the Ellen DeGeneres Show last March, USPS and Halo launched a Stamps to the Rescue campaign. Halo set a goal of feeding one million shelter dogs and cats by the end of 2010 — and delivered on its promise. Halo has donated food to more than 100 shelters throughout the United States.

The animals featured on the Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet commemorative stamps are based on photographs of cats and dogs from shelters and rescue groups — seven from an animal shelter in New Milford, CT. All were adopted into family homes.