The Postal Service is always striving to increase the impact, excitement and value of mail. We’ve always embraced new technologies and innovation. We’re firmly focused on improving the mailing experience.
People, machines, vehicles, technology — it’s an impressive feat to get that card from grandma or that package from your favorite online store to your doorstep.
34,000 pieces per hour
The Automated Delivery Unit Sorter (ADUS) sorts 34,000 packages and bundles of mail per hour with a sort accuracy of 99.95 percent.
25,000 packages/hour
The Enhanced Package Processing System (EPPS), sorts 25,000 packages per hour.
delivery unit sorter
The first Small Delivery Unit Sorter (SDUS) was installed in Nov. 2020. It processes more than 2,500 packages per hour inside the delivery unit. This piece of equipment is helping the Postal Service process increasing volumes of packages. One hundred Small Delivery Unit Sorters will be operational in 2021.
BROKER
Label Broker. This service is easy! It solves the ever-increasing problem of customers conducting business online and not having access to print shipping labels.
With Label Broker, customers can get a shipping label on their mobile device, in the form of a QR Code, directly from the merchant. The customer uses the code to print a label at a Post Office or on a printer connected to usps.com. Label Broker is also the foundational technology that has enabled USPS Operation Santa to expand and evolve in a digital format.
For more information, go to www.usps.com/business/label-broker.htm
billion miles
The Postal Service operates hundreds of mail processing and distribution centers / plants across the country. The employees in these facilities accept, sort and dispatch the nations mail. To move mail using surface transportation, the Postal Service drove more than 1.6 billion miles in 2020 — more than 60,000 trips in more than 25,000 box trucks and tractor-trailers daily.
external email messages
The Postal Service email gateway system delivers more than 5.5 billion external email messages annually to postal customers and business partners. The majority of these are automated messages from Informed Delivery, Click-N-Ship and Package Tracking applications.
email messages blocked
More than 7 million email messages are blocked monthly due to sender reputation. On average, 50 percent of the 24 million email messages received from external senders are blocked monthly, for the safety of our network and email users.
petabytes of storage
The Postal Service has 92.5 petabytes of storage capacity — equivalent to playing more than 234,177 years of songs on an MP3 player with no repeats.
driven
The Postal Service uses data not only to ensure its operations run smoothly, but also to help businesses make better use of the mail. Its mission is to provide the right information to the right people in real time using advanced technology.
enabled
The Postal Service uses a vast network of people and advanced technologies to collect, process, transport and accurately deliver the nation’s mail in an increasingly digital world.
the best
Patently the best. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued more than 400 patents to the Postal Service
domestic trademarks
Leaving a mark! The Postal Service has 475 domestic and 966 foreign trademark registrations.
of our domains
The Postal Service owns 1,884 internet domains
mail pieces
The Seamless Acceptance program automates the payment verification of commercial mailings. In 2020, USPS handled 49.7 billion mail pieces from more than 817 mailers under this program and collected $3.9 million in additional postage.
The Seamless Acceptance program automates the payment verification of commercial mailings by leveraging electronic documentation (eDoc), Intelligent Mail barcodes (IMb) and information collected from both handheld sampling devices and mail processing equipment scans.
eInduction mailers
The eInduction process simplifies mail induction by leveraging eDoc, Intelligent Mail container barcodes and handheld scanner technologies to verify the payment and preparation of commercial mail containers. In 2020, 925 mailers took advantage of eInduction.
collected
The Enterprise Payment System (EPS) allows customers to pay for and manage their use of Postal Service products and services online, using an integrated single payment account. In 2020, EPS collected $21.5 billion in revenue, which is a 35 percent increase over 2019.
eVS revenue
The Electronic Verification System allows high-volume package mailers and package consolidators to document and pay for postage using electronic manifest files. In 2020, eVS processed 4.4 billion packages from 4,127 customers and collected $12.6 billion in revenue, representing a 29 percent increase in revenue over 2019.
in revenue
The Automated Package Verification (APV) program automates the detection and collection of postage due for mail pieces with insufficient postage using automated package processing equipment. The APV program collected $91.6 million in short-paid revenue and saved more than $239 million in short-paid postage in 2020.
billion dollars
Nearly $59 billion in postage was collected from commercial mailers through permits, meters and PC Postage in 2020.
deciphering
You call that scribble legible? Employees at the Remote Encoding Center in Salt Lake City, UT, are responsible for deciphering terribly handwritten or shoddily printed addresses.
foil
In 2020, the Postal Service released several stamps that highlighted printing technologies that were new to the production of our stamps, including the Innovation stamps that used rainbow holographic foil.
What a great idea!
In 2020, the Postal Service released several stamps that highlighted stamp printing technologies.
pieces per hour
The Delivery Barcode Sorter (DBCS) reads the barcode on letters and sorts them at 36,000 pieces per hour.
Systems at work
The daily operations performed by the Postal Service depend on an astonishing network of people and technologies that collect, transport, process and deliver the nation’s mail. Here are some of the systems that help make it happen:
The Delivery Barcode Sorter reads the barcode on letters and sorts them at 36,000 pieces per hour.
The Enhanced Package Processing System sorts packages at 25,000 pieces per hour.
The Automated Delivery Unit Sorter sorts packages and bundles of mail at a rate of 4,000 pieces per hour with a sort accuracy of 99.95 percent.
The Robotic Containerization System sorts trays and automatically loads rolling containers or pallets.
The Automated Flat Sorting Machine sorts flat mail at 17,000 pieces per hour.
The Automated Package Processing System sorts packages and bundles of mail at 9,500 pieces per hour.
The High Throughput Parcel Sorter sorts packages and bundles at 15,000 pieces per hour.
million trays
Tray sorting machines sort more than 18 million trays per day through conveyor systems.
of processing equipment
The Postal Service operates more than 8,500 pieces of automation equipment that processes and sorts the nation's mail.
Mobile Delivery Devices
Mobile Delivery Devices (MDDs) provide real-time scanning for daily delivery operations. There are more than 260,000 devices in use nationwide.
point-of-sale terminals
The Postal Service maintains 46,000 point-of-sale terminals, 2,733 self-service retail kiosks and 2,996 mobile point-of-sale handheld devices nationwide.
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.
USPS and mailers
Postal Customer Councils (PCCs). These Postal Service-affiliated networks connect business mailers with local Post Office leadership to develop more effective and profitable mailings through training and information sharing. Since the 1960s, PCCs have been the go-to local resource for helping mailers learn, innovate and build their business. More information can be found at postalpro.usps.com/pcc.
Find more information at postalpro.usps.com/pcc.
providing technical advice
Postmaster General’s Mailers Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC). Representing select mailing associations, this group works to enhance the value of mail by providing technical advice and recommendations to the Postal Service. More information can be found at postalpro.usps.com/mtac.
annual industry conference
National Postal Forum (NPF). The annual mailing industry conference provides educational and networking opportunities for thousands of business customers. Attendees learn about the latest mail trends and innovations through more than 100 workshops and seminars. More information can be found at npf.org.
Find more information at npf.org.
stamps postmarked per hour
The Advanced Facer Canceller System positions letter mail and postmarks stamps at 36,000 pieces per hour.
The daily operations performed by the Postal Service depend on an astonishing network of people and technologies that collect, transport, process and deliver the nation’s mail.
miles of conveyors
The Postal Service is one of the largest material-handling systems in the world for moving mail. There are more than 200 miles of conveyors within postal facilities.
character recognition
The Postal Service is the world leader in optical character recognition technology, with machines reading nearly 98 percent of all hand-addressed letters and 99.5 percent of machine-printed mail.
Intelligent Mail
A unique Intelligent Mail barcode identifies individual pieces of mail, trays, sacks and containers to track them through the postal processing system from induction to delivery.
nearly $4B in revenue
Every Door Direct Mail - EDDM - is an online service that uses demographic data to help business mailers target their marketing mail pieces to customers in a select neighborhood, city or ZIP Code. Since 2011, EDDM has resulted in more than 20 billion pieces of mail and $3.8 billion in revenue.
The USPS Printer Directory provides customers free access to local print, design and mail preparation services for Every Door Direct Mail and other direct mail products through a searchable database and mapping program. More than 700 listings populate the directory that serves small and medium-size businesses nationwide.
Trademarks
The Eagle Logo, the trade dress of USPS packaging, the Letter Carrier Uniform and the Postal Truck and the following marks are among the many trademarks owned by the United States Postal Service: Click-N-Ship®, Deliver The Win®, EDDM®, ePostage®, Every Door Direct Mail®, Express Mail®, First-Class™, First-Class Mail®, Forever®, Global Express Guaranteed®, IMb®, Informed Delivery®, Intelligent Mail®, Parcel Select®, P.O. Box™, Post Office®, Pony Express®, Postal Inspection Service™, PostalOne!®, Postal Police®, PostalProud®, Express International®, Priority Mail Flat Rate®, Priority Mail International®, Priority: You®, Registered Mail™, Standard Mail®, The Postal Store®, United States Postal Inspection Service®, United States Postal Service®, U.S. Mail®, U.S. Postal Inspector™, U.S. Postal Service®, USPS®, USPS BlueEarth®, USPS Mobile®, USPS Operation Santa®, USPS Tracking®, usps.com®, ZIP+4® and ZIP Code™. This is not a comprehensive list of all Postal Service trademarks.
Non-Postal Trademarks
Forest Stewardship Council®, McDonald’s®, National Dog Bite Prevention Week®, Starbucks®, Sustainable Forestry Initiative®, Walmart®
Postal Facts 2020 provides the public with information about the Postal Service. The facts in this publication may be reproduced for the purpose of stating the fact itself, and in a business, informational, academic context and the like, and in the body of text discussing factual subject matter relevant to the fact being presented. However, these facts may become outdated after publication and seeking the latest information is advised.
Visit about.usps.com for more information.
Produced by Corporate Communications
© 2016-2021 United States Postal Service. All rights reserved.
Trademarks
The Eagle Logo, the trade dress of USPS packaging, the Letter Carrier Uniform and the Postal Truck and the following marks are among the many trademarks owned by the United States Postal Service: Click-N-Ship®, Deliver The Win®, EDDM®, ePostage®, Every Door Direct Mail®, Express Mail®, First-Class™, First-Class Mail®, Forever®, Global Express Guaranteed®, IMb®, Informed Delivery®, Intelligent Mail®, Parcel Select®, P.O. Box™, Post Office®, Pony Express®, Postal Inspection Service™, PostalOne!®, Postal Police®, PostalProud®, Express International®, Priority Mail Flat Rate®, Priority Mail International®, Priority: You®, Registered Mail™, Standard Mail®, The Postal Store®, United States Postal Inspection Service®, United States Postal Service®, U.S. Mail®, U.S. Postal Inspector™, U.S. Postal Service®, USPS®, USPS BlueEarth®, USPS Mobile®, USPS Operation Santa®, USPS Tracking®, usps.com®, ZIP+4® and ZIP Code™. This is not a comprehensive list of all Postal Service trademarks.
Non-Postal Trademarks
Forest Stewardship Council®, McDonald’s®, National Dog Bite Prevention Week®, Starbucks®, Sustainable Forestry Initiative®, Walmart®
Postal Facts 2020 provides the public with information about the Postal Service. The facts in this publication may be reproduced for the purpose of stating the fact itself, and in a business, informational, academic context and the like, and in the body of text discussing factual subject matter relevant to the fact being presented. However, these facts may become outdated after publication and seeking the latest information is advised.
Visit about.usps.com for more information.
Produced by Corporate Communications
© 2016-2021 United States Postal Service. All rights reserved.
