Watch those postmarks when sending important mail

Watch those deadlines if you're mailing something important such as a tax filing, an election ballot or even a bill payment. The U.S. Postal Service established a policy on Dec. 24 whereby postmarks will not necessarily be applied on the day a piece of mail is dropped in a collection box or picked by a local carrier. The policy finds that the postmark will indicate the date an envelope or card is first processed by an automated sorting machine. Postal officials are allowing themselves one, two, even three days — at times even longer — to process mail. The agency's past policy was to backdate a postmark for mail picked up on one day and, for whatever reason, not processed for a day or two. No more. Essentially, the change means a delay could make something like filing a tax form — especially around April 15 or Oct. 15 for those who sought a routine extension — late and subject to penalty through no fault of the taxpayer. The same applies to election ballots. Under a law recently passed by the Ohio General Assembly, mail-in ballots must to arrive at a local board of elections by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day. The new law eliminates the post-election acceptance window that allowed ballots mailed prior to Election Day to arrive a few days later. The change came as President Donald Trump in his second term has sought to rewrite election laws around the country to root out what he claims is "massive" voter fraud. However, such fraud has proved to be miniscule in both Democratic-led and Republican-led jurisdictions. Know that mailing a ballot days before Election Day will not guarantee processing in time for on-time delivery. Keep this in mind when voting by absentee ballot in the May 5 primary. The new policy does nothing to improve mail delivery times, which have slowed in recent years as the USPS faces multibillion-dollar deficits and is seeking to cut costs. It seems that the policy may be aimed more at helping postal service managers, whose bonuses are partially based on delivery metrics, show that efficiency has not declined. If you are concerned about delays in mailing important documents, it may be best to visit your local post office, hand your mail directly to a clerk and ask for a hand postmark right there in front of you. Postal clerks are required to postmark mail when asked to do so by a customer. Some may grumble, but it's their job. Such service won't necessarily guarantee an election ballot will be delivered on time, but for most other time-sensitive mail, a postmark suffices as proof that a payment or filing is not late. Penny policy In another change in postal service operations, you may have noticed that when paying in cash at the post office, pennies are no longer provided in change. The USPS policy calls for amounts ending in 1 cent, 2 cents, 6 cents or 7 cents to be rounded down to the nearest nickel. Amounts ending in 3 cents, 4 cents, 8 cents or 9 cents will be rounded up. The policy does not affect credit card transactions, which are processed in the exact amount. Because pennies are legal tender they will continue to be accepted as payment by the post office. Just don't expect them back in change. The updated policy stemmed from an announcement by the U.S. Mint to cease penny production on Nov. 12. The penny was introduced in 1793. Dennis Sadowski can be reached at Sadowski.dennis@gmail.com.