To assist last-minute tax filers on Tuesday, April 17 – the federal and state deadline for filing income tax returns – the U.S. Postal Service will offer late pickup of mail deposited at the blue collection boxes in front of the Portland Main Post Office, 715 NW Hoyt St., until midnight.

For Salem and Eugene area customers, mail deposited in blue collection boxes in front of the Salem Main Post Office (1050 25th St. SE) and Eugene Gateway Station (3148 Gateway St., Springfield) will also be collected until midnight on Tuesday, April 17.

As an additional service, selected Post Offices in the Portland area with blue collection boxes in front will have mail collections until 9 p.m. These locations’ (listed below) collection boxes will be marked with a special yellow sign indicating the added collection time.

ADDITIONAL PORTLAND LOCATIONS WITH COLLECTION BOXES BEING PICKED UP UNTIL 9 P.M. (* = Self-Service Ship and Mail Center locations):

Customers using the Postal Service’s blue collection boxes elsewhere are urged to double-check the label on the box to ensure they deposit their envelopes prior to the last posted collection time. A reminder: IRS forms are not available at postal locations.

The USPS urges customers to avoid last-minute crowds and mail tax returns well before April 17th, or at least early that day. All Post Offices statewide will be open regular retail business hours on April 17th.

Customers should ensure they have the correct postage affixed to their returns. First-Class postage is 45 cents for the first ounce and 20 cents for each additional ounce. In addition to being available at Post Offices, stamps can be purchased at dozens of locations, including supermarkets and contract postal units. Locations may be looked up online at usps.com/tax.

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A list of processing facilities studied, FAQs, mail processing b-roll, and additional information can be found at usps.com/ourfuturenetwork.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With nearly 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, the U.S. Postal Service was ranked number one in overall service performance, out of the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world, Oxford Strategic Consulting. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.