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.

In early December, the United States Postal Service’s board of governors dropped to one member. A Temporary Emergency Committee, established by the board in the event the board lacks a formal quorum, comprises the one remaining presidential appointee, former Rep. James Bilbray of Nevada, and Postmaster General Megan Brennan and Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman.

The second-largest land mass of the Falkland Islands, West Falkland, is now home to the world’s southernmost postal museum, according to a release from Nova Stamps. The Old Post Office House at Fox Bay, West Falkland, has been standing tall since November 1918. Serving as a house as well as Post Office until 1988,when the post office was relocated to the town’s Village Store.

The postal history of the Falkland Islands from 1827 to 1945 was the title of the presentation and display given by Michael Roberts on 26 November to the members of The Royal Philatelic Society London.

A new smartphone app from the United States Postal Service adds Peanuts characters to your screen when you open the app and aim it at a blue USPS mailbox.

Postmaster General Megan Brennan and postal-union officials agree that the latest financial news from L’Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C., bodes well for the deficit-ridden United States Postal Service. When she met with reporters Nov. 13, the postmaster general opened her review of the Postal Service’s fiscal 2015 financial results, saying she was delighted that the Postal Service had managed to show it could have achieved controllable income of more than $1 billion for two years in a row.