>> The United States Post Office is an interesting entity. I would call it a monopoly and that is what it is. The Post Office sees fit to advertise on the media and support such activities as the Olympics and this costs money. Guess how they pay for such things? Why they just raise the postal rates to allow spending for whatever reason. <<

Everyone likes to trash the USPS and I have done it myself on occasion. But their delivery record is actually pretty good, especially when you consider the sheer volume of mail, and we have the lowest postal rates in the world. It costs two or three times as much to mail a letter in Europe as it does here.

Mike