Skip to content

United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service is the federal agency that delivers mail and packages to every address in the country. It is an independent agency that is expected to cover its costs from postage and services rather than mainly from taxes, though it remains under the oversight of Congress and a regulator.

People usually ask how to send and track mail, what the post office may and may not carry, and how to fix delivery problems. They also ask how to change an address, stop junk mail, or report mail theft and fraud, and they ask how the agency is run, funded, and regulated.

128articles
October 6last updated

An independent team explaining how government works

GovFacts is a nonpartisan site that makes government concepts, policies and programs easier to understand and use.

Referenced by Brookings, CNN, Forbes, Fox News, Pew Research, Snopes, The Hill and USA Today.

The Webby-recognized AI behind our articles »

Latest in United States Postal Service

United States Postal Service

The Problem ZIP Codes Were Built to Solve

The five-digit ZIP Code, launched in 1963, fixed a mail-sorting crisis by replacing clerks' memory with a machine-readable code, then found new uses.

United States Postal Service

Why Only USPS Can Put Mail in Your Mailbox

Federal law lets only USPS put mail in your mailbox, with narrow exceptions for prepaid postage and small package deliveries, plus fines for violations.

All Articles on United States Postal Service

Why Closing a Post Office Is So Hard

Closing a U.S. post office involves months of legal steps like notice, comments, and appeals, but emergency suspensions can skip them.

19 Min Read

Why Postal Workers Can’t Legally Strike

Postal workers cannot legally strike under federal law. This explains the 1970 mail strike and how arbitration settles pay disputes today.

20 Min Read

Why Mail Fraud Is a Federal Crime

Learn why mail fraud became a federal crime, tracing the law from an 1872 statute to today's rules on intent, mailings, and penalties reaching 20 to 30 years.

22 Min Read

How to Protect Your Mail From Theft

Protect your mail from theft with daily collection habits, free USPS tools like Informed Delivery and Hold Mail, and steps to take in the first 24 hours.

20 Min Read

The Legal Immunity Shielding USPS

Why federal law usually shields USPS from lawsuits over lost, damaged, or withheld mail, and what insurance or SF-95 claims can still do.

20 Min Read

Why the IRS and Social Security Still Mail Paper Checks

The IRS and Social Security still mail paper checks because a 1999 law exempts tax refunds and allows hardship waivers for people without bank accounts.

21 Min Read

Why Rural Mail Makes Privatizing USPS So Hard

Why privatizing USPS keeps stalling: rural mail costs more than it earns, the law protects it, and no plan says who would pay.

23 Min Read

What to Do About Stolen Mail

Stolen mail can lead to check fraud and identity theft. Learn who to call, how to report it, and whether to use a fraud alert or credit freeze.

22 Min Read

The Things You Can’t Legally Send Through the Mail

Perfume, batteries, wine, and tobacco all face USPS mailing rules. See what is banned, restricted, or conditional and what the penalties are.

25 Min Read

Why Rural Mail Delivery Costs So Much More

Rural mail delivery costs more because routes cover far more miles with far fewer stops. See how USPS funds the gap and what private carriers charge.

29 Min Read