Introduction

The U.S. Postal Service has a storied history, familiar to many. It began when delegates of the Second Continental Congress established a postal system and appointed Benjamin Franklin the first postmaster general in 1775. As the U.S. Constitution was being drafted in 1787, in it was included a provision empowering Congress to establish Post Offices and postal roads. With the passage of the Post Office Act of 1792, postal services became a permanent fixture of the federal government.

The act included provisions to facilitate freedom of the press, ensure the privacy of personal correspondence and expand the nation’s physical infrastructure — all vital to the nation’s growth and prosperity. These principles and objectives endure. While email, the internet and social channels have forever altered information gathering habits, postal correspondence remains a highly secure and resilient form of communication, and the delivery infrastructure is essential to our economy and vital to national security.

The Postal Service’s status is unique: It is an independent agency of the executive branch, yet it is required to operate like a business. It generally does not receive tax revenues to support its operations and must compete for customers. The success of the Postal Service depends on a culture of operational precision and world-class performance and innovation.

The organization retains the largest physical and logistical infrastructure of any non-military government institution, providing an indispensable foundation supporting an ever-changing nationwide communication network.

The Postal Service also delivers more mail and packages than any other post in the world. The organization serves nearly 169 million addresses in this country, covering every state, city and town. Everyone living in the United States and its territories has access
to postal products and services and pays the same for a First-Class Mail postage stamp, regardless of location.

For 250 years, we’ve been making the connections with friends and families and businesses and customers. We deliver to every community in America, from the biggest cities to the smallest villages. This is our public service mandate — to bind the nation together by providing delivery of mail and packages that is affordable, reliable and secure. It’s what we do!

 Unless otherwise noted, all figures are based on the Postal Service’s 2024 fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2023 through Sept. 30, 2024). Trademarks