Stamps May Go to 46 Cents

The U.S. postal service has raised the cost of postage time and time again; therefore we are surprised that they are expected to raise the current price by 2 more cents, to $0.46 per standard letter. Like so many businesses in this country, the postal service is still recovering from the economic crisis, and struggling economy. If enacted, the new postal increase would go into effect on January 2^nd of 2011.

According to CNNMoney.com, the postal service is projecting a $7 billion deficit next fiscal year, and hopes this increase will help reduce that deficit.

The agency's revenue has been crushed as the volume of mail it processes has declined 12.7% in a year. Businesses hit by the recession have cut back on mailings and more people continue to turn to the web to send their messages.

Earlier this year, the Postal Service announced it would reduce its workforce by the equivalent of 50,000 positions and slash overtime. But the cut in employees and reduction of billions of dollars in expenses have not been enough to close the budget gap.

Continue reading at CNN Money.com…

Nearly 1,400 O.C. Residents Miss IRS Refunds

Almost 1,400 residents of Orange County, California have not received their IRS refunds, reportedly because of a mailing error. The IRS is trying to identify and re-send the failed refunds, however many taxpayers from Orange County are apparently fed up with waiting. The Orange County Register posted a story on the ongoing problem; you can read a section below or the full story here.

Some 1,380 Orange County residents have yet to claim their 2009 IRS refunds for one simple reason -- the IRS can't find them.

They're not alone. This year, $123.5 million in 107,831 refund checks were returned to the IRS by the U.S. Postal Service due to mailing address errors.

To get the money, you need to update your mailing address with the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS will then send out all checks due.

Undeliverable refund checks average $1,148 this year, compared to $990 last year. Some taxpayers are due more than one check.

Click here to jump to our database of U.S. residents who are missing checks.