The Oregonian is reporting that the Senate Rules Committee last week approved a bill that will put the burden of paying for ballot-return postage solely on the state.

For the revenue hungry United States Postal Service, they seemed like the perfect product. Produced with virtually no added costs, press sheets of imperforate self-adhesive stamps were hot sellers from the moment the first sheets went on sale in July 2012 with the issuance of the Major League Baseball All-Stars stamps. But barely four years later, sales of the sheets have become mired in controversy.

Also this week, readers learned about the new Linn's Stamp News digital edition platform, a Moon global forever stamp was announced, and a Linn's contributor recalled his experience at the first-day ceremony for the latest Lunar New Year stamp.

When President Barack Obama submitted his final federal budget to Congress Feb. 9, it was pronounced DOA — dead on arrival — by many. Little noticed among the myriad proposals was the president’s plans for the troubled United States Postal Service.

Also this week, the USPS made public how it would cut stamp prices if its plea to retain emergency rate increases continues to be rejected, and a spectacular and seldom-seen error went for a six-figure price.

Helped by a surge of Christmas parcels, the United States Postal Service reported an operating profit of $1.3 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2016, which ended Dec. 31, 2015. That compares to a $1.1 billion operating profit during the same period of fiscal 2015 (Oct. 1, 2014, to Dec. 31, 2014).

When the Senate Homeland Security Committee got around to holding a hearing on the future of the United States Postal Service on Jan. 21, Postmaster General Megan Brennan spoke of a “broad consensus” that could resolve the Postal Service’s financial woes.

Previous postal regulations called for sale of a single semipostal at a time, but did not distinguish between ones authorized by Congress and those approved by postal officials. The notice said the Postal Service will accept comments on the proposal until Feb. 22.

Retaining the current postage rates was one of the key elements of a plan Postmaster General Megan Brennan laid before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee at a Jan. 21 hearing. Making her first appearance before a congressional committee, Brennan outlined a four-point plan she said was endorsed by major stakeholders in the mailing community that could make the Postal Service financially stable in five years.

Faced with continued opposition in Congress, the United States Postal Service is no longer seeking an end to Saturday mail deliveries. Deputy Postmaster General Ron Stroman made the disclosure at a recent meeting with mailers in advance of a Jan. 21 hearing by the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Lawmakers told postal officials the request to move to five days of delivery a week was “a politically difficult hurdle to overcome,” according to an account of the meeting published by the Association for Postal Commerce.

Almost 30 percent of the $1 billion in Internet sales recorded by the United States Postal Service in fiscal 2015 came from stamps and postal stationery. That’s what a breakdown of the sales for the year ended Sept. 30 provided to Linn’s by postal officials indicates.

A Turkish-born New York Times opinion writer recently gave her first impressions of the USPS, stamps, and the American mailing mailing system.

A Turkish-born New York Times opinion writer recently gave her first impressions of the USPS, stamps, and the American mailing mailing system.

Australia Post's Jan. 4 dramatic postage rate increase also included the introduction of a two-tier delivery system for consumer mail.

Royal Mail turns 500 years old in 2016, and BBC Newsround provided five interesting facts you might not know about the United Kingdom postal service. Items range from the figures who are behind the founding of the Royal Mail, its first stamp (you just might know that one), and when the first Christmas card went on sale.

In a Dec. 15 announcement, the Mint, a branch of the U.S. Treasury Department, said that it will no longer accept mail orders for coins and medals after Sept. 30, 2016. It blamed booming sales via the Internet for the change.

The United States and Cuba have reached an agreement to reestablish direct postal service between the two countries through a pilot program that should begin “in the coming weeks,” the Cuban foreign ministry announced Dec. 11. The U.S. State Department said the initial plans calls for mail to be flown between the countries “several times a week, rather than routing mail through a third country.”

The United States Mint has retreated from its plans to end all mail order sales of coins and medal next year. The surprise announcement came two days after the Mint said it was going to stop accepting mail orders for its coins and medals after Sept. 30, 2016.

The Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C., opened its new exhibit, New York City: A Portrait Through Stamp Art, on Dec. 10. A Dec. 10 Washington postmark commemorates the exhibit opening with the event logo: the Manhattan skyline and a group of theater marquees displaying the title of the exhibit.

The U.S. Postal Service's usps.com website passed $1 billion in sales during the fiscal 2015 year, more than the combined sales of post offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Dallas. A Dec. 8 news release called that “a major milestone” for the website. “USPS.com can provide virtually any service offered at a brick-and-mortar Post Office,” the release noted.