It's been a tough ride for the United States Postal Service. Never mind the rain, snow, sleet, or hail working conditions — as the Wall Street Journal reports it's under tremendous pressure to turn around its financials and create a new business model:

Its use plummeted amid the rise of e-mail. In recent months, it has defaulted on two payments to the U.S. Treasury for a total of $11.1 billion for future retiree health benefits. USPS has been seeking legislation to cut costs by eliminating Saturday mail delivery and reducing its annual health-benefits payments. And now there’s this.

"This" refers to the USPS name being dragged through the mud, along with what's left of Lance Armstrong's sports legacy, during last week's anti-doping report in which the cyclist's former allies in cycling. For a time, however, back in the very late '90s and early 2000s, USPS workers were associated with a winner, when the USPS-sponsored cycling team, with Armstrong at the helm, brought home its first Tour de France victory in 1999 and just kept on winning for seven straight years. Now the Postal Service is hoping to get back on a winning streak itself.Continue reading...

Racing, sports and Lance Armstrong fans are grappling with the man, the myth and the legend this week, as Armstrong remains, it seems, unperturbed in the aftermath of what appears to be damning evidence that he took performance-enhancing drugs throughout his storied career.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's report accused the U.S. Postal Service team under Armstrong of widespread doping and a cover-up that enabled Armstrong's seven straight Tour de France titles and involved a cover-up so officials never caught Armstrong via a drug test.

While many were saddened and disappointed, other fans and observers didn't care if he took performance-enhancing drugs with his teammates (who he allegedly "bullied") or on his own. For all we know, he may have taken them on a boat and on a train, with a goat and in the rain. But Armstrong himself appears "unfazed," as Reuters puts it, by Wednesday's report and the mounting accusations by others in the racing world.

Armstrong's personal response to the blow-up: he tweeted a link on Wednesday for a press release noting the 15th anniversary of the Livestrong foundation, commenting: "What am I doing tonight? Hanging with my family, unaffected, and thinking about this. http://bit.ly/Po6mXT #onward." He later tweeted a telling YouTube link, for the late singer Elliott Smith's song, "Everything's coming up roses."Continue reading...

The U.S. Postal Service is fighting for its life, and under government pressure to find new ways to decrease costs and create new business models that made delivery more efficient. Cue mobile. 

As part of the USPS 2012 mobile commerce and personalization promotion, it's offering a 2% discount on Standard Mail and First-Class Mail letters, flats and cards that include a 2D mobile barcode — not much, but it's a start. Now SpyderLynk is sweetening the deal by offering those same customers a 10% discount for using SnapTags as their 2D mobile barcode.Continue reading...

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The United States Postal Service is in the midst of massive layoffs and soul-searching about its future, as it looks to cut 35,000 jobs as a way of dealing with its $18.2 billion annual loss, but it's still trying to innovate in a digital era when hand-delivered mail seems quaint.

The U.S. Postal Service has just launched a new mobile application for iPhone users that lets the device's camera scan barcodes on shipping labels for "quick, easy and convenient tracking of their packages and other mail. The application stores the label numbers so customers can easily recheck the status of their shipments. The scanner function is available on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPad 2."Continue reading...

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Clorox CEO targets healthcare brands for acquisition.Continue reading...

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Boeing takes its Dreamliner on a "world tour."

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American Airlines parent AMR bankruptcy could foist huge losses on key creditors.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs honored with exhibition highlighting his patents and trademarks.

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Barnes & Noble continues to struggle financially with digital transition.

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Disney raises dividend to highest level in 20 years.

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GM offers to buy back Volt from owners.Continue reading...