USPS idea of improvement is changing the definition of the word "postmark"

The U.S. Postal Service’s new “mail dating system’’ fixes a problem that did not exist and clearly is an attempt to cover up its slowed down delivery system.

This is the USPS’s idea of making improvements?

In the past, a postmark – shown in the top right-hand corner on a piece of mail – indicated the date the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) received a piece of mail or packages.

Now, it will mean something totally different - the date that the USPS actually processes the mail and packages.

On Dec. 24, 2025, the USPS reportedly put this new procedure into effect and this change could have an impact on time-sensitive mail pieces that customers are sending, it was reported.

According to the USPS, this “mail dating change’’ is not a change in their “postmarking practices’’ - wink, wink.

However, what has changed – USPS said - and what will affect the postmark dates – is their transportation operations - which many now call “snail-like.’’

“That will result in some mailpieces not arriving at our originating processing facilities on the same day that they are mailed,” said the USPS website, as if that has never happened before now.

“This means that the date on the postmarks applied at our processing facilities will not necessarily match the date on which the customer’s mailpiece was collected by a letter carrier or dropped off at a retail location.”

This means a tax return dropped in a big blue mailbox on April 15 or a vote-by-mail ballot sent on Election Day could still be postmarked late – risking IRS penalties or a rejected vote – because USPS now postmarks when mail is processed rather than when it is sent.

But wait. If a customer needs a piece of mail postmarked on a certain day – such as a mail-in ballot, tax documents, etc. – they can ensure that a postmark is applied to his or her mail, and that the date on the postmark matches the date of mailing, by visiting a Postal Service retail location and requesting a manual (local) postmark at the retail counter when tendering their mail.

So if you still want your mail “postmarked’’ the same day that you mail it, you can get that, but you have to ask for it in person?

What if you want your mail “postmarked’’ the day before yesterday? Is that an option, too? 

Manual postmarks will be applied free of charge, that we do know.

Customers can find out more information about the postmark change at https://about.usps.com/newsroom/statements/010226-postmarking-myths-and-....

A better idea for the USPS would be to just try to deliver the mail as fast as it did in 1962.