USPS changes postmark date policy and could make your bills and tax returns late.

[AndrewF]

The USPS is apparently now postmarking letters and packages with the date that they arrive at the mail sorting facility, instead of the day they get processed on the way out of your local post office.

This could make credit card, rent, tax returns, and utility payments late and trigger late fees  and penalties for those who tend to mail their bills in at the last minute.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/usps-postmark-policy-change-raises-100000334.html

If you want to make sure that nothing that depends on the postmark is late, and don't know if it will make it to the mail sorting center on time, you will need to stand in line and request a "manual postmark stamp" from the clerk to make sure that it is considered timely.

[crystal626]

It's pretty obvious why the USPS is doing this and it's disgusting.

[AndrewF]

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@crystal626 wrote:

It's pretty obvious why the USPS is doing this and it's disgusting.

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Yes, on top of generating tons of late fees for the banks, it will also affect elections in states like Illinois, where we count ballots that are postmarked by election day. It will result in hundreds of thousands of last minute ballots being thrown in the trash all over the country.

On top of the overall campaign to degrade the post office, which went into the current phase on April 1st. Ever since they slowed down the mail again, they also went from 2-3 clerks at the desk to 1 and a line going clear out the door.

If I get a package, I now have to stand there for 20 minutes. Imagine all the people trying to stand in line just to get a postmark.

It's in the standard residential leases that most landlords around here use that your rent is not late as long as it is "postmarked by the first", so if you go in there and you're down to the wire your landlord might choose to fine you $75 for late rent due to the new policy.