I was in the local P.O. on Vashon a while ago, and one of the ladies was laying the blame on Congress for making new mandates for the Postal Service that forced rate changes. I have no idea if it's true but I trust them a heck of a lot more than I trust Tom DeLay's Congress.

Sorry, but Jennifer got this (or NPR did) exactly backwards. The post office is REQUIRED to make a profit and further, to use the profits to shore up the national deficit to pay for the war. USPS has a $2 billion reserve fund that goes to reduce the deficit, on paper. USPS said that a postal rate increase was unnecessary, except that OMB required it to raise rates to reduce the deficit (on paper) in order to help pass the latest war funding.