This week, the Postal Service shared that the average household gets one personal letter about every seven weeks.

FORBES: Connect

She said the decision had not been taken lightly but "it is one that is unavoidable if we are to create a high-quality postal service, offering good and secure jobs".

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With the proliferation of computer-based communication, one might have thought that the amount of physical paper sent through the postal service would decline, but it seems to have increased, at least from my perspective.

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Earlier this week, readers reacted with skepticism after Berkeley City Councilman Gordon Wozniak suggested that taxing email might be one way to raise money for the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service.

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The U.S. Postal Service could counter with its own version and offer contests for which one flies the best.

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"I have 1, 900 postal inspectors nationwide, and we have 1, 400 uniformed postal police officers at our major facilities, and what I have told my people, unless it is an act of violence or something you have to respond to, you have one case you're working on, and that's this one, " said Kenneth Weaver, chief postal inspector for the U.S. Postal Service.

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One reason it is an attractive career switch is that Congress requires the U.S. Postal Service to count retirees' years in the military in figuring their postal pensions.

FORBES

One study estimated that in 2011, over 30% of FedEx Ground shipments were actually delivered by the Postal Service, and although they compete, these groups regularly partner with each other.

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One man who lives in Clapham, south London, and is HIV positive said he relied on the postal service to deliver supplementary medicine that helps fight the side effects of his treatment.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Post walkout causes huge disruption