Fun facts
Read interesting facts about the United States Postal Service.
Postal Facts - U.S. Postal Service
447 million
rubber bands
Boing! The Postal Service ordered more than 447 million rubber bands in 2023, which totals 24,518 miles of material, or one trip around the world.
Mini
mail carriers
What do you want to be when you grow up? Some kids love the idea of bringing people greetings cards and packages! The U.S. Mail carrier kids costume gets them interested early.
You can purchase the uniform here.
This was the first official costume for the Postal Service. The second was the U.S. Mail carrier dog costume.
The costumes for kids and dogs are among an ever-growing portfolio of USPS licensed products that create royalty revenue for the organization without the expense of manufacturing and marketing.
So
doggone cute!
So doggone cute!The officially licensed USPS dog costume, introduced in 2018, is a very popular item. Thousands have been sold on the Postal Store alone and at other retailers.
You can purchase the uniform here.
It’s only the second official costume in USPS history, following in the footsteps of the U.S. Mail carrier kids costume that’s been available for years.
The costumes for dogs and kids are among an ever-growing portfolio of USPS licensed products that create royalty revenue for the organization without the expense of manufacturing and marketing.
Floating
Post Office
This Post Office floats! The Halibut Cove Post Office (99603) in Homer, AK, floats. The office is a small houseboat that is permanently tied to a dock.
Write badly?
We can still read it!
Chicken scratch. The Postal Service has an entire operation dedicated to deciphering poor penmanship.
Letter mail at a processing plant that cannot be read by the automated equipment has an image taken and transmitted to the Remote Encoding Center (REC). At the REC, employees look at the image and type in address information. The information is matched up with a valid address, the data is transmitted back to the equipment at the plant, and a barcode is printed on the letter. That barcode can be read by any letter processing machine in the Postal Service, keeping the letter within the automated stream of mail in the postal network.
No Flag
Flies Here
No high-flying flag here. The B. Free Franklin Post Office in Philadelphia is the only Post Office in the country that doesn’t fly the American flag — because in 1775 when Benjamin Franklin was appointed Postmaster General there was no flag.
Franklin used to own the building and there is a small museum on the second floor.
Pop! Pop!
Pop! Pop! Pop!
The Postal Service ordered more than 276 million square feet of bubble wrap to safely deliver COVID-19 test kits to the American public. At 12 inches wide, this is enough bubble wrap material to circle the globe more than twice.
Offices
serving two states
Twice as nice. Texarkana, TX (77501) and Texarkana, AR (71854) share a Post Office that straddles the state line. Bristol, TN (37620) and Bristol, VA (24203) share a Post Office in Tennessee. Each office has two ZIP Codes and employees serve the customers in their respective states out of the same office.
Corrales NM
PO made of straw
In Corrales, NM, in 1999, a new Post Office was built with more than 900 bales of straw as insulation. The Post Office is still standing strong and saving energy — a proud testament to the Postal Service’s longstanding history of sustainable practices.
Corrales NM Post Office
Decoding
the ZIP Code
The Zoning Improvement Plan (ZIP) Code was launched in 1963 to better process and deliver increasing volumes of U.S. Mail. The first number in the five-digit ZIP Code represents a general geographic area of the nation, “0” in the east, moving to “9” in the west. The next two numbers represent regional areas, and the final two identify specific Post Offices.
Decoding the code. In 1983, the ZIP+4 Code was introduced. The extra four numbers enable mail to be sorted to a specific street. In 1991, two more numbers were added so that mail could be sorted directly to a residence or business. Today, the use of ZIP Codes extends far beyond the mailing industry, including being a fundamental component in the nation’s 911 emergency system.
There are 41,704 ZIP Codes in the country. They range from 00501, belonging to the Internal Revenue Service in Holtsville, NY, to 99950 in Ketchikan, AK. Easiest to remember? How about 12345, a unique ZIP Code for General Electric in Schenectady, NY.
Mr. ZIP helped promote the new ZIP Code concept in 1963.
just another
BRICK IN THE MAIL
Individual bricks can be shipped in the U.S. Mail. Get a permanent marker, write the address and your return address, get it weighed and add the postage. Send that special someone a brick of affection.
Just don’t think you can send enough bricks to build a house or, perhaps a bank. Been there. Done that. You can read about the bank of Vernal, UT, here.
Kids
in the mail??
Do not try to ship your kids!! In the early days of Parcel Post, a few parents managed to mail their children to relatives. In 1913, an 8-month-old baby in Ohio was mailed by his parents to his grandmother, who lived a few miles away. The baby was safely delivered! Regulations were quickly established to prevent any additional mailing of children through the U.S. Mail.
Fort Knox
gold in the mail
Under the watchful security of the Postal Inspection Service, Railway Mail Service clerks transferred some of the $9 billion in gold bullion shipped as registered mail from the New York City Assay Office to the depository at Fort Knox, KY, in 1941.
The Inspection Service provided security and management in the cooperative effort between the Post Office Department, local law enforcement, U.S. Army and U.S. Treasury Department.
Hope
in the mail
Hope in the mail. In 1958 Harry Winston donated the Hope diamond to the Smithsonian Institution. With his years of experience in shipping jewelry all over the world, Winston sent the diamond via registered mail with the Post Office Department.
The diamond was placed in a box, wrapped in brown paper, and sent by registered mail from New York in a Railway Post Office train car. In Washington, it was picked up by a postal carrier and driven to the National Museum of Natural History. The price paid for shipping the gem, valued at $1 million at the time, was $145.29, most of that for package insurance.
SPUDTACULAR!
potatoes in the mail
It's SPUDTACULAR! As with coconuts, potatoes can be mailed without a box. Simply write the address it's going to and your return addresses on the spud, have it weighed for appropriate postage, and it can be shipped as-is. Let someone know they are special. Send a tater!
If it clucks
IT SHIPS
If it clucks, it ships. The Postal Service has been working with hatcheries for more than 100 years to safely transport mail-order chicks during the spring and summer months.
Chicks can be safely transported without food or water within 72 hours of hatching. In fact, placing food and water inside the hatchery box could jeopardize the integrity of the box and could endanger the health and safety of the animals inside. Thousands of chicks are transported through the U.S. Mail seamlessly every year. This is a legacy operation we take very seriously as lives are literally at stake.
That's
JUST NUTS!
Coconuts can be mailed without a box. Simply address the coconut and add your return addresses on the husk, have it weighed for appropriate postage, and it is shipped as-is. Photo: Coconuts ready for mailing at the Molokai, HI, Post Office.
WE
deliver!
The Postal Service moves mail by planes, hovercraft, trains, trucks, cars, boats, ferries, helicopters, subways, bicycles, mules and feet. #WeDeliverForYou
Largest ZIP
in Contiguous US
The largest ZIP Code in the contiguous U.S. is 89049, Tonopah, NV, at 10,821 square miles.
Twenty-four of the top 25 largest ZIP Codes in the country are located in Alaska – ranging from the largest, 99734, at more than 30,000 square miles to 99741 at 7,600 square miles. The 14th spot goes to Nevada, 89049.
Largest ZIP
in continental US
The largest ZIP Code in the continental U.S. is 99734, Prudhoe Bay, AK, at 30,683 square miles.
Twenty-four of the top 25 largest ZIP Codes in the country are located in Alaska – ranging from the largest, 99734, at more than 30,000 square miles to 99741 at 7,600 square miles. The 14th spot goes to Nevada, 89049.
Famous
postal employees
Heads of industry. Hollywood legends. Sports heroes. Singers. Painters. Writers. And a couple presidents. All were postal employees before they became household names! Thirteen have even been featured on stamps.
© is for
CREATIVE
© is for creative. The Postal Service has more than 500 copyright registrations, many of them to protect artwork on postage stamps.
Farm Goods
delivered by mail
The farm-to-table concept isn’t new. From 1914 to 1920, the farm-to-table program was a novel initiative that allowed farmers to arrange prices with people in urban areas and then mail them fresh meats, eggs, dairy products, produce, honey, jelly, and more. This was a way to give farmers more customers and city dwellers greater and cheaper access to fresh goods.
24-hour
unstaffed Post Office
One of a kind. There is a 24-hour, unstaffed, self-service Post Office in Northern Virginia that allows customers to conduct most shipping and mailing transactions quickly and easily themselves. The Self-Service Post Office provides round-the-clock accessibility to PO Boxes, as well as self-service kiosks and an automated package drop. In 2023, nearly 8,000 customers used this convenient office.
Singing
mailman
John Prine, singer and songwriter, was a letter carrier in Maywood, IL, 1964-1969.
318 million
mail pieces processed daily
The Postal Service processed and delivered an average of 318 million mail pieces daily in 2023.
JUST 1 DAY
in the Postal Service
Each day the Postal Service picks up, processes and delivers millions of letters and packages. No single operation in the world comes close to this level of connectivity for so many households and businesses.
OWNEY
the postal dog
On an autumn day in 1888, a shaggy pup took his first steps toward becoming a postal legend when he crept into the Albany, New York, Post Office. Postal employees allowed him to stay and named him Owney.
At first, Owney stayed close to the Post Office, but he soon began riding mail wagons to the train depot and then rode the railway mail car down to New York City and back to Albany. As Owney traveled farther, his friends at the Albany Post Office feared he might wander too far away to find his way home again, so they purchased a leather collar with a tag reading “Owney, Post Office, Albany, N.Y.” Railway mail clerks recorded Owney’s travels by attaching metal baggage tags to his collar to identify the rail lines he traveled on. He was soon weighed down by his collection of tags. Postmaster General John Wanamaker presented Owney with a little jacket to distribute their weight more evenly.
Owney took to traveling farther and staying away longer, eventually visiting Mexico, Canada, Japan, China, Singapore, Suez, Algiers, and the Azores. While being shown off to an Ohio newspaper reporter, Owney bit the clerk who was handling him. The Postmaster had Owney put down on June 11, 1897. Railway mail clerks chipped in money to have a taxidermist preserve Owney’s body, which then was sent to postal headquarters in Washington, D.C., for exhibit. In 1911, the Post Office Department entrusted Owney to the Smithsonian Institution. Since 1993, Owney has been part of the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. In 2011, Owney was honored on a commemorative U.S. postage stamp.
SHIP
mail delivery
Ship Ahoy! The JW Westcott is a 45-foot contract mail boat out of Detroit that delivers mail to passing ships on the Detroit River. The JW Westcott has its own ZIP Code — 48222.
This is the J.W. Westcott II approaching a Canadian freighter on the Detroit River
Post Office
with walk-in freezers
The Peach Springs, AZ, Post Office has walk-in freezers for food destined for delivery by mule train to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
STAMPS
in caves
No troglodytes here! The Stamp Fulfillment Service facility, located in Kansas City, MO, is located in a limestone cave 150 feet beneath the ground. It is the Postal Service’s only facility located underground.
The consistent, year-round temperatures and humidity levels in the caves allow the stamps to be maintained in mint-quality condition. The underground facility also keeps the inventory and employees safe from snow, flooding, winds and tornadic activity common in the Midwest.
Mr.
ZIP
Mr. ZIP, who has no first name, appeared in many public service announcements and advertisements urging postal customers to use the five-digit ZIP Code that was initiated on July 1, 1963. Within four years of his appearance, eight out of ten Americans knew who Mr. ZIP was and what he stood for.
With the introduction of the nine-digit ZIP Code, or ZIP+4, in 1983, Mr. ZIP went into partial retirement. His image still was printed on the selvage of some sheets of stamps, but that practice ended in January 1986. Mr. ZIP still is used occasionally by the Postal Service.
50
bicycle delivery routes
The Postal Service delivers mail by bicycle on 50 routes in Arizona and Florida - reducing emissions, saving fuel and the carriers can ride a bike all day!
The ORIGINAL
social network
The Postal Service is the original social network, but that doesn't mean we aren't represented on the other, newer social networks. You can find the Postal Service on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Facebook — facebook.com/usps
Twitter — twitter.com/usps
Instagram — instagram.com/uspostalservice
LinkedIn — linkedin.com/company/usps
YouTube — youtube.com/usps
PATENTLY
the best
Patently the best. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued more than 500 patents to the United States Postal Service.
Leaving
our mark
Leaving a mark! The Postal Service has 385 domestic and 1,000 foreign trademark registrations.
MASTER
of our domains
Master of our domains. The Postal Service owns 1,958 internet domains.
POSTAL
BULLETIN
On time. Every time. The Postal Bulletin, a nationally distributed biweekly publication, serves as a source for official policy, procedure updates and departmental news for all Postal Service functions. It has never missed a deadline since its inception in 1880.
Go to https://about.usps.com/resources/postal-bulletin.htm to browse past issues.
139,409
blue collection boxes
Iconically ours. There are 139,409 iconic blue collection boxes in use on street corners across the nation.
About those iconic blue boxes…
They weren’t always blue. Before 1970, they were green, then red, then white, then green again, and finally — beginning in 1955 — red, white and blue.
5,629
addresses added daily
The Postal Service added an average of 5,629 addresses to its delivery network every day in 2023.
152 M pieces
of mail processed daily
On average, the Postal Service processes and delivers 152.3 million pieces of First-Class Mail each day.
13.3 million
pieces processed each hour
On average, the Postal Service processes 318 million mail pieces each day, 13.3 million each hour, 221,000 each minute and 3,684 each second.
383.3 M — number of mail pieces processed and delivered each day.
16 M — average number of mail pieces processed each hour.
226,000 — average number of mail pieces processed each minute.
4,437 — average number of mail pieces processed each second.
Very Special
delivery
In the early days of Parcel Post, a few parents managed to mail their children to relatives. In 1913, an 8-month-old baby in Ohio was mailed by his parents to his grandmother who lived a few miles away.
Grandma, can you babysit?
Just a few weeks after Parcel Post began, Jesse and Mathilda Beagle “mailed” their 8-month-old son James to his grandmother, who lived a few miles away near Batavia, Ohio. Baby Beagle was just under the initial 11-pound limit for parcels. Rural Carrier Vernon Lytle picked up the baby from his parents’ house and carried him in his mail wagon to his grandmother’s house. The postage was fifteen cents, and the “parcel” was insured for $50. Although it was against postal regulations, several children traveled via U.S. Mail in the early years of Parcel Post. Initially the only animals that were allowed in the mail were bees and bugs. In 1918, day-old chicks were allowed in the mail. In 1919, some additional “harmless live animals” were permitted, but children did not fall into this category.
447 million
rubber bands
Boing! The Postal Service ordered more than 447 million rubber bands in 2023, which totals 24,518 miles of material, or one trip around the world.
OUTER SPACE
postage stamp
Out of this world! A postage stamp was inside the New Horizons spacecraft that made a flyby of Pluto in July 2015. That's the farthest distance traveled by a postage stamp - more than 3 billion miles. So noted by the Guinness World Records.
The “Pluto: Not Yet Explored” 29-cent stamp was part of a set of solar system stamps that were issued in 1991.
MULE TRAIN
delivery
The most unusual delivery method used by the Postal Service is a mule train in Arizona. The mules carry mail, food and supplies down a 9-mile trail to the Havasupai Indians at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
Got mules? The most unusual mode of delivery used by the Postal Service is the mule train.
Since the 1930s, mules have been carrying mail and goods to the Havasupai people located inside the Grand Canyon.
- 10-22 mules are used daily, along with one wrangler on horseback, 5 days a week, traveling 9 miles down into the canyon to the Supai Post Office.
- It takes 3 hours to get down and 5 hours to get back up
- On the way back up, the wrangler untethers the mules and sends them back up on their own
- Each mule can carry up to 200 pounds and the weight is loaded equally on each side for balance
- The Supai Post Office has a special Mule Train postmark
Most common
city names
Ben, this one’s for you! Franklin is the most common city name — 28 of them — with Clinton, Madison and Washington tied for second (27 each) and Chester, Greenville, Marion and Springfield at third (25). The most common Post Office name is Clinton, with 26 locations, followed by Madison at second (25) and Franklin and Washington tied for third (24).
33 mile long
Main Street
The longest Main Street in the country is located in Island Park, ID, and is 33 miles long.
21,569
Main streets
Main Street America is here and here and… The most common street name in the country is Main —21,569 of them — followed by Second with 17,196, Third with 16,002 and First with 14,963. The longest Main Street, located in Island Park, ID, is 33 miles long.
41,642
ZIP Codes
There are 41,642 ZIP Codes in the country. They range from 00501, belonging to the Internal Revenue Service in Holtsville, NY, to 99950 in Ketchikan, AK. Easiest to remember? How about 12345, a unique ZIP Code for General Electric in Schenectady, NY.
Quick! What’s that ZIP Code?
The ZIP Code was introduced in 1963. The first number represents a general geographic area of the nation, “0” in the East moving to “9” in the West. The next two numbers indicate regional areas and the final two, specific Post Offices or postal zones in larger cities. Make it a ZIP+4 Code, introduced in 1983, and mail can be sorted to specific streets, buildings, houses and businesses. Today, ZIP Codes are important parts of the nation’s 911 emergency system. ZIP = Zone or Zoning Improvement Plan.
1.2 billion
miles traveled
Stellar performance! During 2023, Postal Service employees traveled more than 1.2 billion miles to deliver your mail, equivalent to 48,191 laps around Earth, 5,023 trips to the moon or 13 trips to the sun.
116,628
deliveries from one office
The Post Office location with the most possible street deliveries is Heritage Station in San Antonio, TX (78245, 78250, 78251, 78253) — with 116,628 deliveries.
Coldest
Post Office
Our Post Office in Utqiagvik, North Slope of Alaska -- formerly Barrow (99723) and Wainwright (99782) -- experiences the coldest temperatures.
shortest
delivery route
The shortest delivery route is rural route 012 in Woodinville, WA (98072) — 2.45 miles daily, delivering to 1,147 boxes.
longest
delivery route
The longest delivery route is rural route 001 in Sidney, MT (59270) — 195.2 miles daily, delivering to 305 boxes.
12345
easiest to remember
The easiest to remember ZIP Code is 12345, a unique ZIP Code for General Electric in Schenectady, NY.
HIGHEST
ZIP Code
The highest numbered ZIP Code is 99950 in Ketchikan, AK.
LOWEST
ZIP Code number
The lowest ZIP Code number is 00501, unique for the Internal Revenue Service in Holtsville, NY.
dock-to-dock
delivery
Dock-to-dock delivery on the Magnolia River in Alabama. A 15-foot contract mail boat delivers to 176 dock-side mailboxes on a 31-mile stretch of the river.
Post Office
most needing a bridge
The Post Office in most need of a bridge is in Point Roberts, WA. It can be reached by car only by driving through British Columbia, Canada. Only a boat or float plane can travel directly there.
2ND OLDEST
Post Office
The second oldest Post Office location is in Castine, ME, from 1833.
Oldest
Post Office
The Hinsdale, NH, Post Office (03451) has been located in the same building since 1816.
LARGEST
retail space
The largest U.S. Postal Service retail space is the James A. Farley Post Office in New York, NY (10001), at 33,100 square feet.
smallest
POST OFFICE
The smallest Post Office is located in Ochopee, FL (34141) and is 61.3 square feet. The building used to be a storage facility for irrigation pipes of an adjacent tomato farm. It was converted into a Post Office in 1953, after a fire that destroyed a previous Post Office and general store.
There is a sign beside the office that reads:
OCHOPEE POST OFFICE
Considered to be the smallest post office in the United States, this building was formerly an irrigation pipe shed belonging to the J.T. Gaunt Company tomato farm. It was hurriedly pressed into service by postmaster Sidney Brown after a disastrous night fire in 1953 burned Ochopee’s general store and post office. The present structure has been in continuous use ever since – as both a post office and ticket station for Trailway’s bus lines – and still services residents in a three-county area, including deliveries to Seminole and Miccosukee Indians living in the region. Daily business often includes requests from tourists and stamp collectors the world over for the famed Ochopee postmark. The property was acquired by the Wooten Family in 1992.
— Collier County Board of County Commissioners
HIGHEST
U.S. Post Office
The highest Post Office in the United States is located in Alma, CO (80420), at 10,578 feet above sea level.
$258.9
million in revenue daily
The Postal Service receives, on average, $258.9 million in revenue each day.
WHOA!
Pony Express
The Pony Express was in operation only from April 3, 1860, to Oct. 26, 1861. It was never part of the U.S. Postal Service.
That’s no pony, that’s a big horse
The official name for the “Pony Express” was the Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Co. Before they were hired, riders had to swear on a Bible not to curse, fight or abuse their animals. Orphans were preferred. The service was in operation only from April 3, 1860, to Oct. 26, 1861. It operated as a U.S. Mail route during its final 4 months.
On April 3, 1860, the first Pony Express mail, traveling by horse and rider relay teams, simultaneously leaves St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. Ten days later, on April 13, the westbound rider and mail packet completed the 1,800-mile journey and arrived in Sacramento, beating the eastbound packet’s arrival in St. Joseph by two days and setting a new standard for speedy mail delivery. The Pony Express was by far the most effective way to communicate cross-country—until the telegraph came along. After 18 months in operation, the system was shuttered on October 26, 1861, and the last remaining mail was delivered.
The Pony Express National Historic Trail was designated to preserve the story and routes of this nationally significant trail and to support the associated sites that preserve its history. Learn more at https://www.nps.gov/poex
