FSM Postal Services Christmas Season Opening Hours, and 2019 Service & Rate Changes

PALIKIR, Pohnpei—Worried you won’t get your Christmas packages on time? Don’t be! The Postmaster General of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) Postal Services, Ginger Porter Mida, wishes to inform the public that on December 24th, Christmas Eve, all FSM Post Office facilities will remain open from 8am until 6pm. The Post Offices will be closed December 25th and January 1st, but regular opening hours will occur Wednesday, December 26th through Saturday, December 29th. “We need to stay open to best serve the citizens,” Postmaster General Mida said in a December 13th meeting. “I’d also like to remind citizens that Express Service is our quickest; from the United States to here will take typically 5-7 working days, and from FSM to the United States can be faster because we’re a day ahead…and mail going out only goes on the plane, never the ship.”

Citizens will wish to be aware that, starting in early 2019, FSM Post Offices will begin using electronic window service. “And hopefully,” Postmaster General Mida said, “credit terminals so you can use a credit card in the post office…we’ve been working with the bank to get that.”

Per the terms of the Amended Compact of Free Association with the United States of America, the FSM Postal Services is required to align its minimum-charges for mailing and delivery services to the U.S. Postal Services’ rates, i.e. if the U.S. Postal Service says mailing a first-class letter is 50¢ then FSM must charge at least the same amount. “We can go higher than the U.S.,” Postmaster General Mida said, “But we choose not to.” With that in mind, citizens should be informed that—beginning January 29th—the FSM is required to raise its rates in line with new U.S. Postal Service requirements. First-class letters will increase from 50¢ to 55¢, for example.

There are also going to be some changes in the pricing of Post Office (PO) Boxes. The smallest PO Box available will increase to $30 annually, the medium size to $40 annually, and the largest size to $50 annually. When these changes are in effect citizens can pay for the entire year—and, we hope, with a credit card if they’re so inclined.