Postal Service Seeks 50-Cent Stamps to Prevent 'Taxpayer Burden'

Bloomberg reports:

The U.S. Postal Service wants Congress to help it raise the price of a first-class stamp to 50 cents, an 11 percent increase, as part of its strategy to avoid annual losses as high as $18.2 billion by 2015.

The Washington-based agency included the increase in a five-year business plan released yesterday. In a separate letter to Congress, the service said U.S. taxpayers will have to cover losses if lawmakers don't help it cut costs.

The letter and business plan reiterated proposals to cut billions of dollars a year in costs by ending Saturday mail delivery, closing facilities and pulling out of a health-care program for federal workers to manage its own benefits. Congress would have to approve some of those changes.

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