Postal Facts - U.S. Postal Service
Really? You didn’t know this? Impress people with your knowledge of some fun, interesting facts.
Companion PDF – 2022
Largest ZIP
in Contiguous US
The largest ZIP Code in the contiguous U.S. is 89049, Tonopah, NV, at 10,821 square miles.
Largest ZIP
in continental US
The largest ZIP Code in the continental U.S. is 99734, Prudhoe Bay, AK, at 30,683 square miles.
Heads of industry. Hollywood legends. Sports heroes. Singers. Painters. Writers. And a couple presidents. All were postal employees before they became household names! Twelve have even been featured on stamps.
© 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.
Newspapers
and the U.S. Mail
Extra! Extra! American newspapers largely owe their existence to Post Offices. As part of the Post Office Act of 1792, newspapers were permitted to be mailed at extremely low rates. By the start of the 19th century, newspapers made up the bulk of the U.S. Mail.
The first Post Office in America was established in a tavern in Boston in 1639.
John Prine, singer and songwriter, was a letter carrier in Maywood, IL, 1964-1969.
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.
Link, a daily news site for Postal Service employees, is available on any computer with internet access. The content is produced by a team of writers and editors based at USPS headquarters in Washington, DC. Additional contributions come from postal employees across the nation.
The site is updated with new articles, photos, graphics and videos each weekday.
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.
On May 7, 1833, 24-year-old Abraham Lincoln was appointed Postmaster of New Salem, Illinois. Lincoln served until the office was closed May 30, 1836.
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.
USPS
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.
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.
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.
USPS
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 price of a First-Class postage stamp is a global bargain.
1st AMERICAN
woman on a stamp
The first American woman on a U.S. postage stamp was Martha Washington, 1902.
FIRST
African American Carrier
The first known African American mail carrier was James B. Christian, Richmond, VA, 1869.
FIRST KNOWN
female mail carrier
The first known female mail carrier was Sarah Black, mail messenger, Charlestown, MD, 1845.
The Postal Service is the original social network, but that doesn't mean we aren't represented on the others. You can find the Postal Service on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Patently the best. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued more than 500 patents to the United States Postal Service.
Leaving a mark! The Postal Service has 385 domestic and 1,000 foreign trademark registrations.
We keep running and running. The Postal Service purchased 76,000 vehicle batteries in 2021.
Better to see you with! The Postal Service ordered 527,000 wiper blades in 2021.
The Postal Service moves mail by planes, hovercraft, trains, trucks, cars, boats, ferries, helicopters, subways, bicycles, mules and feet. #WeDeliverForYou
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.
Post Offices were first required to display the American flag in 1885 to comply with Treasury Department instructions. On Nov. 7, 2019, Post Offices were required to fly the Prisoner of War (POW)-Missing In Action (MIA) flag on the same days that the American flag is flown.
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 USPS functions. It has never missed a deadline since its inception in 1880.
USPS
139,868
blue collection boxes
Today there are 139,868 blue boxes in use across the nation.
We’re rolling! The Postal Service purchased roughly 709,000 tires in 2021. If they were placed side-by-side, this tire line would measure more than 369 miles – the distance between New York City and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore or between Los Angeles and the Grand Canyon National Park.
The Postal Service added an average of 5,825 addresses to its delivery network every day in 2021.
On average, the Postal Service processes and delivers 167.3 million pieces of First-Class Mail each day.
1.2 billion
rubber bands purchased
BOING! The Postal Service ordered 1.2 billion rubber bands in 2021, totaling about 65,710 miles of material that could wrap around Earth 2.6 times!
3.3 million
corporate emails daily
With one of the largest corporate email systems, in 2021, the Postal Service handled more than 3.3 million legitimate emails a day delivered to more than 212,000 email accounts.
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 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.
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).
Main Street America is here and here and…
The most common street name in the country is Main —21,514 of them — followed by Second with 17,120, Third with 15,948 and First with 14,908.
There are 41,683 ZIP Codes in the country.
1.2 billion
miles traveled
Stellar performance!
During 2021, Postal Service employees traveled 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.
*Based on the average moon and sun distance.
For 109 years, postal employees and the American public have helped bring more magic to the holiday season, one letter to Santa at a time.
The ZIP Code with the most street deliveries is Cathedral Station, NY, 10025, with 46,395!
The shortest rural delivery route is in Parker, CO. The carrier travels 2.3 miles and delivers to 869 boxes.
USPS
181.4 mile
delivery route
The longest rural delivery route is in Clarinda, IA. The carrier travels 181.4 miles daily and delivers to 234 boxes.
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.
The second oldest Post Office location is in Castine, ME, from 1833.
The Hinsdale, NH, Post Office (03451) has been located in the same building since 1816.
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.
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.
The highest Post Office in the United States is located in Alma, CO (80420), at 10,578 feet above sea level.
Each day, $165.3 million is paid to USPS employees in salaries and benefits.
The Postal Service processes and delivers 425.3 million mail pieces each day.
The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
The Postal Service generates, on average, $254.2 million in revenue per day
Trademarks
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®, First-Class Package International Service®, Forever®, Global Express Guaranteed®, IMb®, Informed Delivery®, Intelligent Mail®, Label Broker™, Parcel Select®, P.O. Box™, Post Office®, Pony Express®, Postal Inspection Service™, PostalOne!®, Postal Police®, PostalProud®, Priority Mail 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®, We are people delivering to people™, ZIP+4® and ZIP Code™. This is not a comprehensive list of all Postal Service trademarks.
Non-Postal Trademarks
Dollar General®, Forest Stewardship Council®, McDonald’s®, National Dog Bite Prevention Week®, Starbucks®, Subway®, Sustainable Forestry Initiative®, The Climate Registry®.
Postal Facts 2022 provides the public with information about the U.S. Postal Service. The facts in this publication may be reproduced for the purpose of stating the fact itself, and in a business, informational or 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.
Produced by U.S. Postal Service Corporate Communications
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