Another great rural report by Howard Berkes on NPR

Listen here to Berkes's story about the discontinuation of the last back country U.S. Mail service in the lower 48 states. Following are some excerpts about the service in Idaho, which will end June 30:

[T]here's nothing in the [U.S. mail] slogan [regarding rain, sleet and snow] about continuing high-cost deliveries in the face of a $6 billion deficit. So, the U.S. Postal Service is ending airstrip service to about 20 addresses scattered across hundreds of square miles of Idaho backcountry inside the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.

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The flights from Cascade, Idaho, have served ranches, outfitters, lodges and a University of Idaho research station for 50 years. But the $46,000 annual cost is too much for a postal service $6 billion in the red.