Government Coup

Received info from feds today referencing US Postal Service Rule 608.11, effective 1/1/26 whereby mail is now postmarked when processed at regional center. This means it could be days before being postmarked after being received by the PO (your PO). THINK OF THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THIS!!!

Bill payments, tax returns, and ELECTION BALLOTS!

This administration is making voting locations less accessible and wants to eliminate mail in voting. Looks like they made it happen! trump is doing everything he can to hinder the elections. Time to be very afraid!

https://www.federalregister.gov/docu...tal-possession

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Originally Posted by frugal-one

Around 5 minutes into talked about the conspiracy theory you referred to. That is why I told you were to start.

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Ahh, OK. I have no idea what "conspiracy theory" I may have referred to although I'll assume that's how you choose to refer to the Atlanta News First story I linked to in which it was revealed that Fulton County election officials admitted their failure to follow state election requirements and improperly certified 315,000 early voting ballots in the 2020 election. Thinking it would be nice to have a progressive news source discuss this I went back and watched the appropriate parts of your video and was terribly disappointed to see that they never mentioned it. She did provide a very entertaining several minute high school "mean girl" diatribe about Tulsi Gabbard and then followed up using the phrase "conspiracy theory" several times before bringing on a Democratic Senator to speculate on "benign foreign influence" who also never mentioned the story I referenced so I came away doubly disappointed. Thanks for thinking of me though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alan

Ahh, OK. I have no idea what "conspiracy theory" I may have referred to although I'll assume that's how you choose to refer to the Atlanta News First story I linked to in which it was revealed that Fulton County election officials admitted their failure to follow state election requirements and improperly certified 315,000 early voting ballots in the 2020 election. Thinking it would be nice to have a progressive news source discuss this I went back and watched the appropriate parts of your video and was terribly disappointed to see that they never mentioned it. She did provide a very entertaining several minute high school "mean girl" diatribe about Tulsi Gabbard and then followed up using the phrase "conspiracy theory" several times before bringing on a Democratic Senator to speculate on "benign foreign influence" who also never mentioned the story I referenced so I came away doubly disappointed. Thanks for thinking of me though.

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this is exchange is of course, very entertaining for me.

I'm getting that most of the unsigned ballots were from early voting , if that's any hint of where it's going. Someone along the line of authorities said it was a violation of state standards but didn't constitute fraud. I forget the source. Could be something totally different since no on is talking.

There are more than dozen or more bicycle "ride for unity" rides all over the state for tomorrow. One starts near my house and I thought about it. On public streets, thats a little outside of my acceptable risk.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frugal-one

Received info from feds today referencing US Postal Service Rule 608.11, effective 1/1/26 whereby mail is now postmarked when processed at regional center. This means it could be days before being postmarked after being received by the PO (your PO). THINK OF THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THIS!!!

Bill payments, tax returns, and ELECTION BALLOTS!

This administration is making voting locations less accessible and wants to eliminate mail in voting. Looks like they made it happen! trump is doing everything he can to hinder the elections. Time to be very afraid!

https://www.federalregister.gov/docu...tal-possession

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Reviewing the history of postmarks as this Federal Register piece does, it points out that postmark never was a reliable indicator of when the post office took possession of the piece of mail. Several situations precluded that.

Prior to the proposed change one could specially request that one’s piece of mail be postmarked turning it in at a post office facility manned by humans.

When this proposed change takes place there will once again be mail that is not marked to indicate when the post office took possession. And once again the sender can request that his piece of mail be post marked.

In my tiny town our local mail is now all being sent to a processing center in the next county and we are not happy about that. So when I’m sending a card to my neighbor, rather than having it sorted at our town’s post office and delivered to her, it’s sent to the county next-door to their processing facility, postmarked, sorted, and sent back to our town for delivery. Adds a good four days to the mailing process and while that isn’t the worst thing in the world as long as we plan for it, I’m finding the post office is consistently has been for the past several years unreliable.

Our garden club set a big check priority mail at a cost of $12. It was lost. I don’t know what to do in that case when our only option of sending first class mail is the US post office by law and they fk it up so badly that I can’t even trust priority mail .

I processed my first batch of charitable donations this week and I sent each one of them out via priority mail at a cost of $12 each, but I don’t know what else to do. I am at a loss, really don’t know what else to do since Vanguard will only send a check. I suppose I could investigate FedEx and send as a package and maybe I will be doing that in the future.

A pretty amazing fiasco, the post office pulled on me last spring when an important mailing of size, I’m not talking about some tiny envelope, got to the recipient two months late. The envelope was not torn and there was nothing odd about her address. There was no explanation.

On a bright note about the post office, our local carrier is stellar and the people who work in our town‘s post office are just wonderful.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

Reviewing the history of postmarks as this Federal Register piece does, it points out that postmark never was a reliable indicator of when the post office took possession of the piece of mail. Several situations precluded that.

Prior to the proposed change one could specially request that one’s piece of mail be postmarked turning it in at a post office facility manned by humans.

When this proposed change takes place there will once again be mail that is not marked to indicate when the post office took possession. And once again the sender can request that his piece of mail be post marked.

In my tiny town our local mail is now all being sent to a processing center in the next county and we are not happy about that. So when I’m sending a card to my neighbor, rather than having it sorted at our town’s post office and delivered to her, it’s sent to the county next-door to their processing facility, postmarked, sorted, and sent back to our town for delivery. Adds a good four days to the mailing process and while that isn’t the worst thing in the world as long as we plan for it, I’m finding the post office is consistently has been for the past several years unreliable.

Our garden club set a big check priority mail at a cost of $12. It was lost. I don’t know what to do in that case when our only option of sending first class mail is the US post office by law and they fk it up so badly that I can’t even trust priority mail .

I processed my first batch of charitable donations this week and I sent each one of them out via priority mail at a cost of $12 each, but I don’t know what else to do. I am at a loss, really don’t know what else to do since Vanguard will only send a check. I suppose I could investigate FedEx and send as a package and maybe I will be doing that in the future.

A pretty amazing fiasco, the post office pulled on me last spring when an important mailing of size, I’m not talking about some tiny envelope, got to the recipient two months late. The envelope was not torn and there was nothing odd about her address. There was no explanation.

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Read the Federal Register. The rules have changed. Below is copied from the fed info sent to me.



What Can Individuals Do to Ensure Proof of Timely Income Tax Return Filing?

There are some actions that individuals can take to make sure that their 2025 federal and state income tax returns are postmarked in a timely fashion.

1. Individuals should not mail the return via a mailbox.

They should go in-person to a post office with their mailings. The best and safest method (as established by many court decisions) is to obtain conclusive proof of the mailing date. In particular, sending the tax return Certified Mail with return receipt requested, with the receipt’s date stamped at the post office. An alternative is that the individual mailing the tax return should purchase postage that the post office prints and affixes to the mailing with the date of mailing shown or request a hand-canceled postmark. Stamps individually purchased should not be used.

2. Mail the income tax return using a private delivery service, such as Federal Express, UPS or DHL.

These private delivery services are more expensive than the Postal Service. The more expensive services may provide more services and may not have long customer lines. Note that there are specific US Treasury regulations to be complied with when a private delivery service is used to mail a federal income tax return.

3. Electronically file the income tax return using direct debit to pay any balance due.

While electronic filing is commonly used, some individuals wish to retain cash in their account until the IRS processes a physical check, or they may have other reasons not to want the IRS or state revenue department to have access to their account information. New IRS regulations seriously restrict use of paper checks. As of September 30, 2025, the Treasury Department no longer issues paper checks.

Finally, individuals should be aware that commonly used mechanisms to indicate date of mailing will not work with the new Postal Service rule. That includes preprinted labels supplied by a mail customer before mailing (such as postage from self-service kiosks or meter strips) are ineffective to either confirm the acceptance of the mail by the Postal Service or the specific date on which such acceptance occurs.

Individuals are reminded to retain receipts or other proof of timely mail when mailing their income tax returns.

NOTE: I previously have sent certified letters to be delivered within a certain timeframe and IT DID NOT HAPPEN! Maybe, as referenced above, purchase postage that is printed by the PO and stamped to prove date. During mail in elections, imagine the lines to do this! Another way to make voting more difficult.

I asked ChatGPT about the new regulation 608.11 and here’s what Chad said:

✔️ Can You Go Into the Post Office and Request a Postmark on the Spot?

Yes — you can request a “manual” or “local” postmark at the retail counter when you bring your mailpiece into a post office. If you do that:

• A clerk will apply a hand-stamp showing the date you presented your mail that day.
  
• That manual postmark will reflect the date of acceptance at that post office, which is often what people want for deadlines.
  
• USPS has stated this service is available and free of charge when requested at the counter.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

I asked ChatGPT about the new regulation 608.11 and here’s what Chad said:

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I'll back ChatGPT up on that by actually reading the PDF frugal-one asked us to read on the Federal Register. On the page identified as 38720 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 153 / Tuesday, August 12, 2025 / Proposed Rules

As noted above, manual (local)
postmarking will continue to be offered
on request at retail locations, and the
dates indicated by such retail postmarks
will align with the date on which the
retail location (and therefore the Postal
Service) accepted possession of the
mailpiece. PVI labels likewise reflect the
date on which the Postal Service
accepted possession of the mailpiece.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alan

I'll back ChatGPT up on that by actually reading the PDF frugal-one asked us to read on the Federal Register. On the page identified as 38720 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 153 / Tuesday, August 12, 2025 / Proposed Rules

As noted above, manual (local)
postmarking will continue to be offered
on request at retail locations, and the
dates indicated by such retail postmarks
will align with the date on which the
retail location (and therefore the Postal
Service) accepted possession of the
mailpiece. PVI labels likewise reflect the
date on which the Postal Service
accepted possession of the mailpiece.

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Believe what you want. I gave you what was sent to me by the feds. As noted REQUESTED local postmarks will be accepted for dates, otherwise who knows what the date may be if processed at the regional center.

My previous point being… (during elections the lines may be long to request local postmarks) …therefore, another example of trying to hinder or eliminate mail in voting. Make it more difficult.