Editing United States Postal Service (section)

==== Airline and rail division ====
[[File:Boeing 727-223(F), US Postal Service AN0236566.jpg|thumbnail|A former United States Postal Service [[Boeing 727]]-200 aircraft at [[Miami International Airport]] in 1999]]

The United States Postal Service does not directly own or operate any aircraft or trains, although both were formerly operated. The mail and packages are flown on airlines with which the Postal Service has a contractual agreement. The contracts change periodically. Contract airlines have included: [[United Parcel Service|UPS]], [[FedEx Express]], [[American Airlines]], [[United Airlines]].

The last air delivery route in the continental U.S., to residents in the [[Frank Church–River of No Return Wilderness]], was scheduled to be ended in June 2009. The weekly [[bush plane]] route, contracted out to an [[air taxi]] company, had in its final year an annual cost of $46,000, or $2400/year per residence, over ten times the average cost of delivering mail to a residence in the United States.<ref name="idaho">[https://wheretobuyastamp.com/ Where to Buy Stamps] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903152355/https://wheretobuyastamp.com/ |date=September 3, 2018 }}'</ref> This decision has been reversed by the U.S. postmaster general.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://minnick.house.gov/2009/05/idaho-delegation-gets-reversal-on-backcountry-mail-delivery-decision.shtml| title= Idaho delegation gets reversal on backcountry mail delivery decision| website= Press release | date=May 7, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090527230620/http://minnick.house.gov/2009/05/idaho-delegation-gets-reversal-on-backcountry-mail-delivery-decision.shtml| archive-date= May 27, 2009| publisher= House.gov | access-date=July 8, 2013}}</ref>