Remember when the Post Office started coming out with self-stick stamps? The novelty was thrilling. No longer did we have to lick them! It felt like we were in a golden age. For a while there, sending stuff felt fresh.

In 2008, though, the United States Postal Service tried out something new that seemed to scare people away: Raising the price of postage again. Never mind that now we've got the "Forever Stamp," which essentially encourages us to hedge the price of postage. The way it played out, people simply reached the tipping point.

Last year, the Postal Service delivered some 20 billion pieces of mail between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year, the figure was more like 19 billion. As the Miami Herald put it, that's three fewer pieces of mail for every American. Bad news for the USPS, which is already $1 billion in the hole.

My wife and I have differing philosophies when it comes to Christmas cards; she likes to choose beautiful cards and send them to everyone we know, whereas I look for cards in bulk and try to shave the list down each year. Because of my Christmas card habits and the fact that I am constantly turning off the tree to save electricity, I've been dubbed "The Grinch" in our household. But this year my "heart grew 3 times larger" when my wife shared her new idea to save money on sending out cards!

Amber had a great idea, to write out all of our cards before we go to Thanksgiving celebrations this week so that we can hand them out when we see our families on Thursday. Since my parent's families are large enough that they could each field their own football team, we'll save quite a bit on postage. We'll also be handing out cards to friends as we get together over the next month, rather than having the mailman deliver them.

The Post Office will still be delivering cards to people who live far away, but we'll be hand delivering close to 80% of our cards. On top of saving over $20 in postage, hand delivering the cards is another great excuse to catch up with friends and family. If you plan to save postage this year, you only have a few days left so you better get writing!

So you're glad you're not a Wall Street trader these days? At least they banked fat salaries and maybe got a golden parachute. The story's not so green at your local restaurant. These are bad times to be a server. Dangerous, even, because their tips have plummeted faster than the Dow Jones.

One New York City waiter has said that the bottom has fallen out for America's service professionals. He wrote that early this year, he'd make about $500 a week over five shifts. This summer, restaurant sales fell for the first time in two and a half years. Today, $270 for a full week is typical. People are guarding their cash, and they aren't coming into restaurants as much anymore. When they do, they're increasingly cheap. The 20% tip, once more or less standard for good service, is a memory. Some customers are merely rounding up to the nearest dollar.

The horror of this comes from the fact that many of our service professionals are vulnerable even in the best of times. They simply don't make an adequate hourly wage -- it's below minimum wage. They usually don't get insurance. They can be fired at the drop of a napkin. The expectations have been that they'd make plenty to live on through their gratuities, and if that failed, they could just switch to another restaurant. But with more people paying less in service charges, and with few places in need of new staff, that is now just a fantasy.

Most customers would never consider walking out of a restaurant without paying their bill in full. That would be theft. But because tips are discretionary, there are plenty of cheapskates who think nothing of bolting without a proper tip, or of justifying a dramatically reduced tip with some minor infraction. And now waiters (and bellhops, and valet parking attendants, and dozens of other ubiquitous workers) are finding it impossible to make their rents.

In an effort to combat its budget deficit of over $1 billion, the United States Postal Service is, allegedly, trying to upsell its premium services while hiding its less expensive options.

According to an anonymous source, the USPS has instructed its employees to stop offering inexpensive shipping; whenever customers come in with anything larger than a letter, employees are supposed to ask if they want Express Mail guaranteed overnight delivery or Priority Mail. If the customer asks about cheaper options, the employee is then allowed to discuss First Class, Parcel Post, or Media Mail. The key element here is that the customer has to mention the cheaper options, as the counterperson can't.

When I first read about this decision, I was pretty depressed. I've always been a big fan of the Post Office; while the interminable lines can be a drag, there are always interesting "Wanted" posters to study, and the commemorative stamp collections are a fun thing to look at. Beyond that, Priority Mail is a pretty good deal, especially when compared to UPS, FedEx, and DHL. The post office employees are, generally, reasonably fun to deal with, at least when they aren't trying to sell me stamps, boxes, tape, and other fripperies in the government's version of "You want fries with that?"

My extremely generous neighbor whom I've never even met -- his name is Michael -- has given me subscriptions to two of the hottest celebrity gossip magazines. When I go down to my lobby to check the mail, I always give a quick glance into the recycle bin. Every Friday for the past two months, I've found the latest issues of OK Weekly and US Weekly -- at the top of the bin, mailing labels still in-tact.

I can only speculate about why Michael doesn't even bother reading his magazines. Perhaps they were a gift that he didn't want. Perhaps he gets multiple copies because of some clerical error. Or maybe he has a new live-in girlfriend, and admitting that he actually spends money to keep up to date on celebrity news would make him feel like less of a man. Whatever the reason, I get both magazines at 100% off the weekly newsstand price of $7.98 -- plus the fistful of change I'll get for writing this post.

If you live in a big building, it might be worth a quick -- and discrete -- look through the recycling by the mailboxes every once in awhile. And I have a request for the USPS: each post office should include a magazine rack where people can place anything that they receive but don't want.

OK, I'm going back to reading "Britney & Jamie Lynn at Home: OK World Exclusive!"

I don't know about you, but for some reason, every time postage goes up, I feel like it "just" went up! I know it only happens about once a year or something like that, but it seems like it just happened.

Starting May 12, postage is being increased again. My sarcastic self thinks this must be as a thank you for the awesome, magnificent service we get from the United States Postal Service. You know... that envelope I got today that was black and looked like it had been run over by a car about six times? Yeah... thanks for that one.

So here are the new rates: 42 cents to mail a first class letter, 27 cents for a post card, and certified mail is $2.70. Assorted other prices are going up as well. And you can now plan on an increase every May, as a new law called The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act says the post office has to adjust prices each year.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

In what is reported as a first for the U.S. Postal Service, residents of high crime areas are being warned that their mail service may be stopped temporarily. These notices have been sent out for the last 18 months in Milwaukee, a city known by some for its high violent crime rates.

The notices say in part: "If crime goes unchecked, we may have to stop delivering mail to your address until the immediate danger is resolved." In that case, residents would have to pick up their mail at the post office.

Since these notices started, mail service has been stopped twice. In one area, a mail carrier was shot with a BB gun, and in the other, a mail carrier was caught in the crossfire of a gun battle.

The Postal Inspector says this mail stoppage is only done as a "last resort," but it sounds serious when they report that the notices have been going out at a rate of one to two per month for the last 18 months.

Word to the wise: Look out for your mail carrier. Those working in high-crime areas are often not there by choice, and those who want to keep receiving their mail will be well-served by helping to keep the postal carriers safe.

Forensic accountant Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations through her company, Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners honored Tracy as the 2007 winner of the prestigious Hubbard Award and her first book, Essentials of Corporate Fraud, will be on bookshelves in March 2008.