National Dog Bite Prevention Week (June 5 – June 11, 2022) addresses aggressive dog behaviors that pose serious threats to Postal Service employees delivering mail and how communities they serve can play a part in their safety.

The Postal Service is an environmental leader. We believe it’s our responsibility to be good stewards of the environment.

• The USPS National Recycling Operation uses our existing transportation network to backhaul recyclables, particularly mixed paper, from Post Offices to central collection hubs for consolidation.
• In 2021, the Postal Service recycled 176,416 tons of mixed paper, 78,044 tons of cardboard, 4293 tons of plastic, 2733 tons of metal, 895 tons of electronic equipment and more. The combined total of all solid waste recycled in 2021 was 277,994 tons.

• The Postal Service collaborates with large mailers to securely process and destroy undeliverable-as-addressed or return-to-sender First-Class Mail with its USPS BlueEarth Secure Destruction mail service. This is a win-win. The program helps reduce mailing industry carbon impact and reduces costs. In 2021, the Postal Service securely processed and recycled 111.76 million pieces of mail.
• The USPS BlueEarth Federal Recycling Program transports and recycles used electronics for federal agencies with no shipping or item disposition costs. This free program is available to all federal agencies and federal employees. Thirty-seven U.S. federal agencies are enrolled in this sustainable mail service program and in 2021 recycled 268,745 pounds and refurbished 188,501 pounds of inkjet/toner cartridges and small electronics.

In 2021, 4.3 million people visited USPSOperationSanta.com, more than 203,000 profiles were created, and the identity verification success rate was 93.5 percent. Generous customers adopted 21,175 letters and shipped 21,443 packages, helping families and children experience the magic of the season when they might not have otherwise, one letter to Santa at a time.

In 2020, the program expanded nationwide for the first time. More than 1 million people visited USPSOperationSanta.com. Generous customers shipped more than 21,000 packages to the families and children who wrote to Santa to help them have a happier holiday.

In 2019, the digital program continued to expand. Letters were accepted letters from 17 locations, and the letters could be adopted by anyone in the country. Gifts could be shipped from more than 19,000 post offices.

In 2018, the Postal Service expanded the 2017 pilot test to include 6 additional cities (Austin, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Washington DC – and Puerto Rico and Chico, CA (site of wildfires). Letters from those locations populated the website and people in those locations only could adopt them and ship from one dedicated post office per city.

In 2017,  the Postal Service launched a pilot test of a digital Operation Santa option for residents of New York City. People living in New York City, within proximity of the James A. Farley building could adopt letters online and ship gifts from JAF. Puerto Rico was also added after the hurricanes that year.

HISTORY

In 1912, Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local postmasters to allow postal employees and citizens to respond to letters addressed to Santa Claus and the program came to be known as Operation Santa.

In the 1940s, mail volume increased to the point where the Post Office Department invited charitable organizations and corporations to participate for philanthropic purposes —providing written responses and small gifts.

Through the years, the program has taken on a life of its own and today cities around the country have established successful programs with recognized charitable organizations, major corporations, local businesses and postal employees making a major difference in the lives of the children from coast to coast.

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.

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 14^th spot goes to Nevada, 89049.

Just One Day in the Life of the U.S. Postal Service . . . By the Numbers

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.

Here’s just ONE day in the life of the Postal Service. (Figures are averages.)

Regular features include “Heroes’ Corner,” a column about employees who perform heroic deeds, and “On the Move,” a weekly roundup of employees who’ve received new appointments or recognition.

Employees with postal email addresses receive a Link email each weekday with links to the most recent stories. The team also produces an end-of-week Link Recap email with stories readers might have missed, along with Link Extra emails for breaking news.

Link mobile is a mobile-friendly version of the Link site. Link mobile has all the news you’ll find on the desktop version of Link, except it’s formatted for easy reading on handheld smart devices. Employees and others can receive a weekly Link mobile email by subscribing at www.usps.link.

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.

Two postmasters became U.S. Presidents later in their careers — Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman. Truman held the title and signed papers but immediately turned the position and its pay over to an assistant. Lincoln was the only President who served as a Postmaster.

On May 7, 1833, 24-year-old Lincoln was appointed Postmaster of New Salem, Illinois. Lincoln served until the office was closed May 30, 1836. Postal records show that Lincoln earned $55.70 as Postmaster in fiscal year 1835 and $19.48 for one quarter’s work in fiscal year 1837. Besides his pay, Lincoln, as Postmaster, could send and receive personal letters free and get one daily newspaper delivered free. Mail arrived once a week. If an addressee did not collect the mail, as was the custom, Lincoln delivered it personally — usually carrying the mail in his hat. Even then, Lincoln was “Honest Abe.”

Reportedly, when the New Salem Post Office was discontinued, Lincoln had a balance of $16 or $18, which he took with him to Springfield, Illinois. Months later, while his close friend Dr. A. G. Henry was visiting, a Post Office agent called on Lincoln to collect the funds. Henry knew that Lincoln had been in financial straits and feared that he might not have the money. Henry recalled that just as he was about to offer Lincoln a loan, the future President:

“. . . went over to his trunk at his boarding house, and returned with an old blue sock with a quantity of silver and copper coin tied up in it. Untying the sock, he poured the contents on the table and proceeded to count the coin, which consisted of such silver and copper pieces as the country-people were then in the habit of using in paying postage. On counting it up there was found the exact amount, to a cent, of the draft, and in the identical coin which had been received. He never used, under any circumstances, trust funds.”

This is the J.W. Westcott II approaching a Canadian freighter on the Detroit River

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.

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.

Facebook — facebook.com/usps

Twitter — twitter.com/usps

Instagram — instagram.com/uspostalservice

LinkedIn — linkedin.com/company/usps

YouTube — youtube.com/usps

In 2020, more than 8,000 customers took advantage of this convenient office.

In 2021, the Postal Service replaced 31,874 American Flags and 27,550 POW/MIA Flags.

Go to https://about.usps.com/resources/postal-bulletin.htm to browse past issues.

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.

Staying connected

The Postal Service has one of the world’s largest computer networks — linking more than 31,000 facilities and connecting hundreds of thousands of employees and hundreds of systems.

In 2021 some emails were blocked due to:

• Spam: More than 6 million spam email messages were blocked monthly.
• Content: More than 27 million emails were blocked monthly due to malicious content including phishing, brand spoofing, and suspicious URLs being detected.
• Malware: More than 9,000 email messages were blocked monthly due to malware.
• Blocking bad actors: More than 5 million email messages were blocked monthly due to sender reputation.
• Advanced Threat Detection: More than 16,000 email messages were blocked by domain impersonation, URL and file detonation detecting malicious content, or click-time URL protection.
• On average, 34 percent of the 101 million email messages received from external senders were blocked monthly for the safety of the Postal Service network and email users.

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

ZIP Codes 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.

In 2021, 4.3 million people visited USPSOperationSanta.com, more than 203,000 profiles were created, and the identity verification success rate was 93.5 percent. Generous customers adopted 21,175 letters and shipped 21,443 packages, helping families and children experience the magic of the season when they might not have otherwise, one letter to Santa at a time.

In 2020, the program expanded nationwide for the first time. More than 1 million people visited USPSOperationSanta.com. Generous customers shipped more than 21,000 packages to the families and children who wrote to Santa to help them have a happier holiday.

In 2019, the digital program continued to expand. Letters were accepted letters from 17 locations, and the letters could be adopted by anyone in the country. Gifts could be shipped from more than 19,000 post offices.

In 2018, the Postal Service expanded the 2017 pilot test to include 6 additional cities (Austin, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Washington DC – and Puerto Rico and Chico, CA (site of wildfires). Letters from those locations populated the website and people in those locations only could adopt them and ship from one dedicated post office per city.

In 2017,  the Postal Service launched a pilot test of a digital Operation Santa option for residents of New York City. People living in New York City, within proximity of the James A. Farley building could adopt letters online and ship gifts from JAF. Puerto Rico was also added after the hurricanes that year.

HISTORY

In 1912, Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local postmasters to allow postal employees and citizens to respond to letters addressed to Santa Claus and the program came to be known as Operation Santa.

In the 1940s, mail volume increased to the point where the Post Office Department invited charitable organizations and corporations to participate for philanthropic purposes —providing written responses and small gifts.

Through the years, the program has taken on a life of its own and today cities around the country have established successful programs with recognized charitable organizations, major corporations, local businesses and postal employees making a major difference in the lives of the children from coast to coast.

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

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum offers exhibits tracing the history of the postal system in the United States. It houses nearly six million postal-related items — mostly stamps, but also postal stationery, greeting cards, covers and letters, mailboxes, postal vehicles, handstamps, metering machines, patent models, uniforms, badges, and other objects related to postal history and philately. The museum’s library, with more than 40,000 volumes and manuscripts, is open to the public by appointment. In 2013, the William H. Gross Stamp Gallery — the largest in the world — opened at the museum.

The Bolger Center is a Postal Service-owned state of the art training facility located on 83 beautiful acres in Potomac, Maryland. It was built in the 1930’s as a Catholic convent by the Sisters of Mercy.

In the 1980’s, it was purchased by the U.S. Postal Service as a training center.

Named for William F. Bolger (March 13, 1923 – August 21, 1989), the 65^th Postmaster General of the United States from March 15, 1978 to January 1, 1985.

In the late 19th century, free home delivery of mail was introduced — first in cities, then in rural areas — and letter carriers became familiar, trusted visitors to homes and businesses across the country.

Before 1863, postage paid only for the delivery of mail from Post Office to Post Office. Citizens picked up their mail, although in some cities they could pay an extra one- or two-cent fee for letter delivery or use private delivery firms. Among the postal reforms suggested by Postmaster General Montgomery Blair in his 1862 report to the President was free delivery of mail by salaried letter carriers, which he felt would “greatly accelerate deliveries, and promote the public convenience.” He reasoned that if the system of mailing and receiving letters was more convenient, people would use it more often, and pointed to increasing postal revenues in England, which already had adopted free city delivery.

Congress agreed. An Act of Congress of March 3, 1863, effective July 1, 1863, provided that free city delivery be established at Post Offices where income from local postage was more than sufficient to pay all expenses of the service. For the first time, Americans had to put street addresses on their letters.

Two postmasters became U.S. Presidents later in their careers — Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman. Truman held the title and signed papers but immediately turned the position and its pay over to an assistant. Lincoln was the only President who served as a Postmaster.

On May 7, 1833, 24-year-old Lincoln was appointed Postmaster of New Salem, Illinois. Lincoln served until the office was closed May 30, 1836. Postal records show that Lincoln earned $55.70 as Postmaster in fiscal year 1835 and $19.48 for one quarter’s work in fiscal year 1837. Besides his pay, Lincoln, as Postmaster, could send and receive personal letters free and get one daily newspaper delivered free. Mail arrived once a week. If an addressee did not collect the mail, as was the custom, Lincoln delivered it personally — usually carrying the mail in his hat. Even then, Lincoln was “Honest Abe.”

Reportedly, when the New Salem Post Office was discontinued, Lincoln had a balance of $16 or $18, which he took with him to Springfield, Illinois. Months later, while his close friend Dr. A. G. Henry was visiting, a Post Office agent called on Lincoln to collect the funds. Henry knew that Lincoln had been in financial straits and feared that he might not have the money. Henry recalled that just as he was about to offer Lincoln a loan, the future President:

“. . . went over to his trunk at his boarding house, and returned with an old blue sock with a quantity of silver and copper coin tied up in it. Untying the sock, he poured the contents on the table and proceeded to count the coin, which consisted of such silver and copper pieces as the country-people were then in the habit of using in paying postage. On counting it up there was found the exact amount, to a cent, of the draft, and in the identical coin which had been received. He never used, under any circumstances, trust funds.”

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.

The Post Office Department issued its first postage stamps on July 1, 1847. Previously, letters were taken to a Post Office, where the postmaster would note the postage in the upper right corner. The postage rate was based on the number of sheets in the letter and the distance it would travel. Postage could be paid in advance by the writer, collected from the addressee on delivery, or paid partially in advance and partially upon delivery.

On March 3, 1847, Congress authorized United States postage stamps. The first general issue postage stamps went on sale in New York City, July 1, 1847. One, priced at five cents, depicted Benjamin Franklin. The other, a ten-cent stamp, pictured George Washington. Clerks used scissors to cut the stamps from pregummed, nonperforated sheets. Only Franklin and Washington appeared on stamps until 1856, when a five-cent stamp honoring Thomas Jefferson was issued. A two-cent Andrew Jackson stamp was added in 1863. George Washington has appeared on more U.S. postage stamps than any other person.

Isaac Myers served from 1870 until 1879.  During his employment he helped solve a number of notorious cases.

Five murals were featured on First-Class postage stamps in 2019

In 2021, the Postal Service replaced 31,874 American Flags and 27,550 POW/MIA Flags.

You can find the publication at about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/welcome.htm

Go to https://about.usps.com/resources/postal-bulletin.htm to browse past issues.

Our History is the History of America

They are treasures. But they’re not hidden. Many of our buildings are historical properties. Inside -and outside – many of our Post Offices, you’ll find impressive works of art that reflect the stories of our people and our nation.

• More than 1,400 postal-owned buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. More information can be found at gov/nr/research/
• More than 1,400 murals and/or sculptures from President Roosevelt’s New Deal Programs are in our Post Offices around the nation.
• Five murals were featured on First-Class postage stamps in 2019
• The United States Postal Service: An American History is an entire publication dedicated to our history and can be found at usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/welcome.htm.

In 2021, 4.3 million people visited USPSOperationSanta.com, more than 203,000 profiles were created, and the identity verification success rate was 93.5 percent. Generous customers adopted 21,175 letters and shipped 21,443 packages, helping families and children experience the magic of the season when they might not have otherwise, one letter to Santa at a time.

In 2020, the program expanded nationwide for the first time. More than 1 million people visited USPSOperationSanta.com. Generous customers shipped more than 21,000 packages to the families and children who wrote to Santa to help them have a happier holiday.

In 2019, the digital program continued to expand. Letters were accepted letters from 17 locations, and the letters could be adopted by anyone in the country. Gifts could be shipped from more than 19,000 post offices.

In 2018, the Postal Service expanded the 2017 pilot test to include 6 additional cities (Austin, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Washington DC – and Puerto Rico and Chico, CA (site of wildfires). Letters from those locations populated the website and people in those locations only could adopt them and ship from one dedicated post office per city.

In 2017,  the Postal Service launched a pilot test of a digital Operation Santa option for residents of New York City. People living in New York City, within proximity of the James A. Farley building could adopt letters online and ship gifts from JAF. Puerto Rico was also added after the hurricanes that year.

HISTORY

In 1912, Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local postmasters to allow postal employees and citizens to respond to letters addressed to Santa Claus and the program came to be known as Operation Santa.

In the 1940s, mail volume increased to the point where the Post Office Department invited charitable organizations and corporations to participate for philanthropic purposes —providing written responses and small gifts.

Through the years, the program has taken on a life of its own and today cities around the country have established successful programs with recognized charitable organizations, major corporations, local businesses and postal employees making a major difference in the lives of the children from coast to coast.

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

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 through the air, the Postal Service flies 5 million pounds of mail per day, using more than 140 domestic airports.

• There are 622 remote locations within the postal system that receive network connectivity via satellite.
• The Postal Service communications network contains more than 190,000 provisioned subnets that connect more than 1 million devices, including:
  • 140,000 desktop computers
  • 50,000 notebook computers
  • 41,000 server computers
  • 56,080 printers
  • 32,087 smartphones
  • 3,735 tablets
  • 2,700 MacOS desktop and notebook computers
  • 125,630 phone lines
  • 443,701 hand-held scanners.

• With one of the largest corporate email systems, the Postal Service handled more than 3 million legitimate emails a day in 2021, delivered to more than 212,000 email accounts. But some emails are blocked due to:
  • Spam: More than 6 million spam email messages were blocked monthly.
  • Content: More than 27 million emails were blocked monthly due to malicious content including phishing, brand spoofing, and suspicious URLs being detected.
  • Malware: More than 9,000 email messages were blocked monthly due to malware.
  • Blocking bad actors: More than 5 million email messages were blocked monthly due to sender reputation.
  • Advanced Threat Detection: More than 16,000 email messages were blocked by domain impersonation, URL and file detonation detecting malicious content, or click-time URL protection.

• The Lunar New Year – Year of the Ox stamp, part of the new Celebrating Lunar New Year stamp series, had intricate gold and orange foil in the stamp artwork, as well as in the stamp’s selvage.
• The Star Wars Droids stamps, 10 designs in various sizes, included a varnish, high gloss coating on the Droids.
• The Sun Science stamps (10 designs) were printed with a foil treatment that adds a glimmer to the stamps.
• The Raven Story stamp inspired by the traditional story of the raven setting the sun, moon and stars free includes gold foil.
• The Message Monsters stamps (five designs) came complete with their own accessories. The selvage contained cartoony voice balloons and thought bubbles with exclamations and salutations, hats and crowns, hearts, stars, crazy daisies, and other fun flair making a fun addition to any piece of First-Class Mail.

Innovative Technologies — 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.

• 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 2.07 billion miles in 2021 — more than 45,000 trips in more than 25,000 box trucks and tractor-trailers daily.
• To move mail through the air, the Postal Service flies 5 million pounds of mail per day, using more than 140 domestic airports.
• The Music City Annex in Nashville, TN, built in 2019, is the newest mail processing facility.
• The Los Angeles CA Processing and Distribution center is the largest processing facility at 725 million square feet.
• The Postal Service deployed four electric yard tractors at the Richmond, CA, processing center in 2019. These tractors are used to move trailers around postal property.
• The Postal Service is the world leader in optical character recognition (OCR) technology, with machines reading nearly 98 percent of all hand-addressed letters and 99.5 percent of machine-printed mail.
• The Postal Service has deployed 378 automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in 27 facilities. AGVs use sensors and navigation technology to move around processing facilities without human involvement.
• The Postal Service has one of the largest material-handling systems in the world for moving mail. There are more than 200 miles of conveyors within postal facilities.
• The Postal Service has the largest gantry robotic fleet in the world using 165 robotics systems to move 300,000 mail trays per day.

The Postal Service operates more than 8,500 pieces of automated equipment that processes and sorts nearly half the world’s mail.

• The largest piece of automated equipment, the Enhanced Package Processing System (EPPS), sorts packages at 25,000 pieces per hour
• The Flex Rover Sorter (FRS) is a wheeled robot that sorts large and non-machinable packages into containers. There are more than 600 rovers deployed at 40 sites across the country.
• The Single Induction Package Sorter (SIPS) is the newest piece of automated equipment (tied with the FRS). It can sort packages at a rate of 2,500 pieces per hour and there are 51 new machines across the country.
• The Automated Delivery Unit Sorter (ADUS) sorts packages and bundles of mail at a rate of 3,400 pieces per hour with a sort accuracy of 99.95 percent
• The Robotic Containerization System (RCS) sorts trays and automatically loads rolling containers or pallets
• The Advanced Facer Canceller System (AFCS) positions letter mail and postmarks stamps at 36,000 pieces per hour
• The Delivery Barcode Sorter (DBCS) reads the barcodes and sorts letters at 36,000 pieces per hour
• The Automated Flat Sorting Machine (AFSM) sorts flat mail at 17,000 pieces per hour
• The Automated Package Processing System (APPS) sorts packages and bundles of mail at 9,500 pieces per hour
• The High Throughput Parcel Sorter (HTPS) sorts packages and bundles at 15,000 pieces per hour
• The Automated Parcel and Bundle Sorter (ABPS) sorts packages and bundles of mail at 6,000 pieces per hour
• Tray sorting machines sort more than 10 million trays per day through conveyor systems
• Mobile Delivery Devices (MDDs) provide real-time scanning for daily delivery operations. There are more than 260,000 MDDs in use nationwide.
• Check out the Systems at Work video for more information. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX16-52bHvg)

Find more information at postalpro.usps.com/pcc.

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.

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.

Informed Delivery provides eligible residential customers with a digital preview of their household’s incoming mail scheduled to arrive soon. Users can view greyscale images of the exterior, address side of incoming letter-sized mail pieces (not the inside contents) via email or an online dashboard.

Informed Delivery also allows customers to track packages delivered by the Postal Service and see when they will be delivered.

For more information and to sign up, go to usps.com/informeddelivery.

The Postal Service has one of the world’s largest computer networks — linking more than 31,000 facilities and connecting hundreds of thousands of employees and hundreds of systems.

There are 622 remote locations within the postal system that receive network connectivity via satellite.

USPS has 92.5 petabytes of storage capacity — equivalent to playing more than 234,177 years of songs with no repeats.

More than 169,623 meetings per month are hosted online, representing more than 62.2 million minutes of conference time.

It’s one of the oldest law enforcement agencies in the nation. Postal Inspectors remain on the heels of the criminals — targeting theft, disrupting drug traffickers, warning about fraud scams and more.

The Inspection Service does this with approximately 2,400 employees — including nearly 1,300 Postal Inspectors, roughly 500 uniformed Postal Police Offices and 600 professional, technical and administrative support personnel — all working to ensure America’s confidence in the U.S. Mail.

Isaac Myers served from 1870 until 1879.  During his employment he helped solve a number of notorious cases.

The Postal Inspection Service is turning the tide against opioid dealers on the dark web. Detecting and stopping their shipments is only the beginning; tracing illegal drugs back to their source and shutting them down is the ultimate mission.

In August 2021, a Postal Inspection Service investigation culminated in a 15-year prison sentence for a notorious dark web drug trafficker. Chukwuemeka Okparaeke, aka “Fentmaster,” was responsible for at least 7,000 transactions in synthetic opioids. At least one of these shipments resulted in the overdose and death of an 18-year-old victim. Following Okparaeke’s arrest, Postal Inspectors seized more than 14 kilograms of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues. Inspectors also uncovered more than 80 packages containing synthetic opioids that would have been shipped throughout the United States had Okparaeke not been arrested.

In 2021 alone, 790 synthetic opioid seizures resulted in 985 pounds of drugs off the street.

From late October 2020 to mid-November (the first months of fiscal year 2021), the Inspection Service conducted 1,856 security sweeps at facilities in all 50 states, including all 220 facilities that processed ballots, logging more than 11,567 hours dedicated to protecting the integrity of Election Mail.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service enforces federal laws, prevents crimes and keeps customers, employees and the mail safe. It’s one of the oldest law enforcement agencies in the nation. These days our Inspectors remain on the heels of the criminals — targeting theft, disrupting drug traffickers, warning about fraud scams and more.

The Inspection Service does this with approximately 2,400 employees, including nearly 1,300 Postal Inspectors, roughly 500 uniformed Postal Police Officers and 600 professional, technical and administrative support personnel ensuring America’s confidence in the U.S. Mail.

More information can be found at uspis.gov/the-opioid-epidemic

Postal Service Headquarters, 1973–Present

Vlastimil Koubek designed the present Postal Service Headquarters building, which is located in Southwest Washington, D.C., just a few blocks south of the National Mall.

Post Office Department Headquarters, 1899–1934

This granite building on Pennsylvania Avenue, not far from the White House, was the last to simultaneously house both postal headquarters and the Washington, D.C., Post Office. Horse-drawn wagons brought mail to the building in its early years. By the time postal Headquarters moved to a larger building, almost all mail was carried by motor vehicles.

Two postmasters became U.S. Presidents later in their careers — Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman. Truman held the title and signed papers but immediately turned the position and its pay over to an assistant. Lincoln was the only President who served as a Postmaster.

On May 7, 1833, 24-year-old Lincoln was appointed Postmaster of New Salem, Illinois. Lincoln served until the office was closed May 30, 1836. Postal records show that Lincoln earned $55.70 as Postmaster in fiscal year 1835 and $19.48 for one quarter’s work in fiscal year 1837. Besides his pay, Lincoln, as Postmaster, could send and receive personal letters free and get one daily newspaper delivered free. Mail arrived once a week. If an addressee did not collect the mail, as was the custom, Lincoln delivered it personally — usually carrying the mail in his hat. Even then, Lincoln was “Honest Abe.”

Reportedly, when the New Salem Post Office was discontinued, Lincoln had a balance of $16 or $18, which he took with him to Springfield, Illinois. Months later, while his close friend Dr. A. G. Henry was visiting, a Post Office agent called on Lincoln to collect the funds. Henry knew that Lincoln had been in financial straits and feared that he might not have the money. Henry recalled that just as he was about to offer Lincoln a loan, the future President:

“. . . went over to his trunk at his boarding house, and returned with an old blue sock with a quantity of silver and copper coin tied up in it. Untying the sock, he poured the contents on the table and proceeded to count the coin, which consisted of such silver and copper pieces as the country-people were then in the habit of using in paying postage. On counting it up there was found the exact amount, to a cent, of the draft, and in the identical coin which had been received. He never used, under any circumstances, trust funds.”

This is the J.W. Westcott II approaching a Canadian freighter on the Detroit River

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.

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

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

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

The mission of the .POST Group is to support the posts as they provide their customers with reliable and secure web services.

The .POST Group promotes innovation, integration and inclusion of postal activities on a uniquely secure platform, employing a rigorous UPU community membership and authentication process to deliver a safe, uncompromised and trustworthy customer experience.

More information can be found at upu.int/en/Universal-Postal-Union/About-UPU/Cooperatives-Boards/-POST-Group

The EMS global network has the largest number of customer access points in the world, serving more than 5 billion citizens of member posts.

The overall market size for cross-border ecommerce has grown to more than 9 billion items each year, with expected growth to 13 billion by 2024. Note: these are pre-pandemic numbers.

More information can be found at post/en/global-network.

The Kahala Posts Group (KPG) is an international alliance of the world’s largest postal administrations that collaborate to improve international postal services.

Launched in 2002 by six postal administrations, the KPG network accounts for almost half of the world’s internationally recognized Express Mail Service (EMS) traffic.

More information can be found at kahalapostsgroup.com/.

Since 1989, the IPC has created solutions and services that are used by more than 180 posts worldwide and is the leading service provider of the global postal industry. Collectively, IPC members deliver 80-percent of global mail volumes — more than 330 billion mail pieces each year.

More information can be found at ipc.be/.

• Established in 1874, the UPU, with its headquarters in Bern, Switzerland, is the second oldest international organization worldwide.
• With its 192-member countries, the UPU is the primary forum for cooperation between posts. The UPU helps to ensure a truly universal network of products and services.
• More information can be found at upu.int.

In 2020, more than 8,000 customers took advantage of this convenient office.

In 2021, the top five pages, on usps.com, in order of popularity:

1. USPS Tracking — 901 million users
2. Informed Delivery — 112 million users
3. The Postal Store — 42 million users
4. Change of Address — 31 million users
5. Post Office Locator — 30 million users

Here’s more you should know:

Priority Mail Express offers you overnight delivery to most U.S. locations with up to $100 of insurance coverage included with most shipments.

With Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes and envelopes, there’s no need to weigh or calculate postage of packages up to 70 pounds.

Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express boxes, envelopes and labels, as well as customs pouches for international mailing products are available at no charge. They can be ordered at usps.com and delivered to your door or picked up at a local Post Office.

Priority Mail is the environmental choice — boxes are recyclable!

Click-N-Ship allows customers to print shipping labels with postage for Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, Global Express Guaranteed, Priority Mail International, Priority Mail Express International and First-Class Package International Service.

• • Click-N-Ship Loyalty Program enables hundreds of thousands of Click-N-Ship business users to enjoy tiered levels of financial benefits and discounts when they use the application to ship Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express.

• The Post Office on your phone. The Postal Service app — USPS Mobile — is available on Apple and Android platforms. Some of the most popular functions currently available on com — USPS Tracking, Informed Delivery, Post Office Locator, ZIP Code Lookup, The Postal Store, calculating postage, holding mail, requesting Package Pickup, and ordering shipping supplies — are now available on most smart phones.
  • The USPS Mobile app was downloaded more than 8 million times from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
  • More than 900 million users visited the USPS Mobile site using a mobile device, representing 75 percent of the traffic.
  • In 2021, there were more than 53 million visitors to the mobile site — usps.com — the USPS Mobile app — averaging more than 143,000 visits per day.

The free usps.com iPhone app was launched in 2009.

Some of the most popular functions currently available on usps.com — Informed Delivery, USPS Tracking, Post Office Locator, ZIP Code Lookup, calculating postage, holding mail, requesting Package Pickup and ordering shipping supplies — are now available on most smart phones.

Postal Service revenue from passport applications was $272 million.

Our History is the History of America

They are treasures. But they’re not hidden. Many of our buildings are historical properties. Inside -and outside – many of our Post Offices, you’ll find impressive works of art that reflect the stories of our people and our nation.

• More than 1,400 postal-owned buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. More information can be found at gov/nr/research/
• More than 1,400 murals and/or sculptures from President Roosevelt’s New Deal Programs are in our Post Offices around the nation.
• Five murals were featured on First-Class postage stamps in 2019
• The United States Postal Service: An American History is an entire publication dedicated to our history and can be found at usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/welcome.htm.

More information can be found at npf.org.

The Military Care Kit — and the special pricing offered for APO, FPO and DPO destinations — makes it easy to send care packages to loved ones stationed overseas.

usps.com/shop

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.

Informed Delivery provides eligible residential customers with a digital preview of their household’s incoming mail scheduled to arrive soon. Users can view greyscale images of the exterior, address side of incoming letter-sized mail pieces (not the inside contents) via email or an online dashboard.

Informed Delivery also allows customers to track packages delivered by the Postal Service and see when they will be delivered.

For more information and to sign up, go to usps.com/informeddelivery.

During 2021, the Postal Service issued 71.5 million money orders.

Regular features include “Heroes’ Corner,” a column about employees who perform heroic deeds, and “On the Move,” a weekly roundup of employees who’ve received new appointments or recognition.

Employees with postal email addresses receive a Link email each weekday with links to the most recent stories. The team also produces an end-of-week Link Recap email with stories readers might have missed, along with Link Extra emails for breaking news.

Link mobile is a mobile-friendly version of the Link site. Link mobile has all the news you’ll find on the desktop version of Link, except it’s formatted for easy reading on handheld smart devices. Employees and others can receive a weekly Link mobile email by subscribing at www.usps.link.

• Women make up nearly 46 percent of our workforce
• Minorities represent 49 percent of our workforce
• The Postal Service employs nearly 73,000 veterans
• The Postal Service employs more than 35,000 employees with disabilities, including nearly 10,000 disabled veterans

Isaac Myers served from 1870 until 1879.  During his employment he helped solve a number of notorious cases.

U.S. Postal Service Racial/Ethnicity Composition

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.

Our History is the History of America

They are treasures. But they’re not hidden. Many of our buildings are historical properties. Inside -and outside – many of our Post Offices, you’ll find impressive works of art that reflect the stories of our people and our nation.

• More than 1,400 postal-owned buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. More information can be found at gov/nr/research/
• More than 1,400 murals and/or sculptures from President Roosevelt’s New Deal Programs are in our Post Offices around the nation.
• Five murals were featured on First-Class postage stamps in 2019
• The United States Postal Service: An American History is an entire publication dedicated to our history and can be found at usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/welcome.htm.

Find more information at postalpro.usps.com/pcc.

About that motto…

Those words are engraved on the front of the James A. Farley Post Office in NYC, set in stone by the architectural firm that built it. The phrase is taken from an ancient book by the Greek historian Herodotus and refers to messengers in the Persian Empire.

The phrase comes from book 8, paragraph 98, of The Persian Wars by Herodotus, a Greek historian. During the wars between the Greeks and Persians (500-449 B.C.), the Persians operated a system of mounted postal couriers who served with great fidelity.

The popular belief that Herodotus’s description of the Persian postal service is about the U.S. Postal Service is a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of men and women who have delivered the mail reliably and dependably, through all conditions, for centuries.

Military and Diplomatic Mail in brief.

• The Military Postal Service provides service in 63 countries.
• There are 401 land-based military Post Offices and 626 based on ships.
• The U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Post Office serves 32,500 customers at 184 diplomatic missions across 103 countries around the world.
• Within the military and diplomatic services, 1,200 ZIP Codes are served around the world.
• The Military Postal Service Agency was formed in 1980, consolidating the postal operations of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The Department of Defense designated the Secretary of the Army as the single military mail manager.
• Members of the military and diplomatic corps receive virtually the same level of service as they would if they were at home in the United States. Differences are based on the country in which they’re stationed and the type of mission in which they’re involved.
• Military and Diplomatic Mail moves within the United States via the Postal Service transportation network to major mail processing facilities.
• If it’s First-Class Mail, Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express, the item moves from major airport gateways in the United States to overseas airport gateways on commercial aircraft. It then moves by various methods to designated military or diplomatic postal facilities for delivery to individual members. Mail also moves by military aircraft when necessary.

The Military Care Kit — and the special pricing offered for APO, FPO and DPO destinations — makes it easy to send care packages to loved ones stationed overseas.

usps.com/shop

The organization has also issued more than 140 stamps honoring the nation’s military history, including the Service Cross Medals stamps.

The U.S. Postal Service is the core of the nation’s $1.6 trillion mailing industry, which employs more than 7.3 million people.*

These types of mail brought in most of the $77 billion in operating revenue in 2021:

• First-Class Mail — $23.3 billion
• Marketing Mail — $14.6 billion
• Shipping and Package Services — $32 billion
• International — $2.2 billion
• Periodicals — $942 million

If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 43rd in the 2021 Fortune 500.

In the 2021 Global Fortune 500 list, the U.S. Postal Service ranked 123rd.

The Envelope Manufacturers Association Mailing Industry Job Study, 2019, reported that there are more than 7.3 million jobs and $1.58 trillion in revenue attributed to the mailing industry. More information can be found at envelope.org.

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

Election Mail consists of mail to or from election officials, including ballots, ballot applications, registration forms, and other items that enable citizens to participate in the voting process.

• International Mail is a $2.2 billion business within the Postal Service.
• Most of the International Mail revenue is generated from outbound services that allow customers in the United States to send mail and packages abroad.
• The Postal Service sends 3.3 million pounds of international, military, and diplomatic mail and packages weekly, using 70 international airlines, composed of 11 US flag carriers and 19 foreign flag carriers, and their affiliates.
• Click-N-Ship allows customers to print shipping labels with postage for Global Express Guaranteed, Priority Mail International, Priority Mail Express International and First-Class Package International Service. For more information, go to usps.com/ship/.

Facebook — facebook.com/usps

Twitter — twitter.com/usps

Instagram — instagram.com/uspostalservice

LinkedIn — linkedin.com/company/usps

YouTube — youtube.com/usps

Postal Service revenue from passport applications was $272 million.

Staying connected

The Postal Service has one of the world’s largest computer networks — linking more than 31,000 facilities and connecting hundreds of thousands of employees and hundreds of systems.

In 2021 some emails were blocked due to:

• Spam: More than 6 million spam email messages were blocked monthly.
• Content: More than 27 million emails were blocked monthly due to malicious content including phishing, brand spoofing, and suspicious URLs being detected.
• Malware: More than 9,000 email messages were blocked monthly due to malware.
• Blocking bad actors: More than 5 million email messages were blocked monthly due to sender reputation.
• Advanced Threat Detection: More than 16,000 email messages were blocked by domain impersonation, URL and file detonation detecting malicious content, or click-time URL protection.
• On average, 34 percent of the 101 million email messages received from external senders were blocked monthly for the safety of the Postal Service network and email users.

About that motto…

Those words are engraved on the front of the James A. Farley Post Office in NYC, set in stone by the architectural firm that built it. The phrase is taken from an ancient book by the Greek historian Herodotus and refers to messengers in the Persian Empire.

The phrase comes from book 8, paragraph 98, of The Persian Wars by Herodotus, a Greek historian. During the wars between the Greeks and Persians (500-449 B.C.), the Persians operated a system of mounted postal couriers who served with great fidelity.

The popular belief that Herodotus’s description of the Persian postal service is about the U.S. Postal Service is a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of men and women who have delivered the mail reliably and dependably, through all conditions, for centuries.

ZIP Codes 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.

In 2021, 4.3 million people visited USPSOperationSanta.com, more than 203,000 profiles were created, and the identity verification success rate was 93.5 percent. Generous customers adopted 21,175 letters and shipped 21,443 packages, helping families and children experience the magic of the season when they might not have otherwise, one letter to Santa at a time.

In 2020, the program expanded nationwide for the first time. More than 1 million people visited USPSOperationSanta.com. Generous customers shipped more than 21,000 packages to the families and children who wrote to Santa to help them have a happier holiday.

In 2019, the digital program continued to expand. Letters were accepted letters from 17 locations, and the letters could be adopted by anyone in the country. Gifts could be shipped from more than 19,000 post offices.

In 2018, the Postal Service expanded the 2017 pilot test to include 6 additional cities (Austin, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Washington DC – and Puerto Rico and Chico, CA (site of wildfires). Letters from those locations populated the website and people in those locations only could adopt them and ship from one dedicated post office per city.

In 2017,  the Postal Service launched a pilot test of a digital Operation Santa option for residents of New York City. People living in New York City, within proximity of the James A. Farley building could adopt letters online and ship gifts from JAF. Puerto Rico was also added after the hurricanes that year.

HISTORY

In 1912, Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local postmasters to allow postal employees and citizens to respond to letters addressed to Santa Claus and the program came to be known as Operation Santa.

In the 1940s, mail volume increased to the point where the Post Office Department invited charitable organizations and corporations to participate for philanthropic purposes —providing written responses and small gifts.

Through the years, the program has taken on a life of its own and today cities around the country have established successful programs with recognized charitable organizations, major corporations, local businesses and postal employees making a major difference in the lives of the children from coast to coast.

Internet Change-of-Address enables customers to change addresses online, and it offers them coupons for move-related products and services. More than 20 million address changes were submitted online in 2020.

The U.S. Postal Service is the core of the nation’s $1.6 trillion mailing industry, which employs more than 7.3 million people.*

These types of mail brought in most of the $77 billion in operating revenue in 2021:

• First-Class Mail — $23.3 billion
• Marketing Mail — $14.6 billion
• Shipping and Package Services — $32 billion
• International — $2.2 billion
• Periodicals — $942 million

If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 43rd in the 2021 Fortune 500.

In the 2021 Global Fortune 500 list, the U.S. Postal Service ranked 123rd.

The Envelope Manufacturers Association Mailing Industry Job Study, 2019, reported that there are more than 7.3 million jobs and $1.58 trillion in revenue attributed to the mailing industry. More information can be found at envelope.org.

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.

Five murals were featured on First-Class postage stamps in 2019

• The Lunar New Year – Year of the Ox stamp, part of the new Celebrating Lunar New Year stamp series, had intricate gold and orange foil in the stamp artwork, as well as in the stamp’s selvage.
• The Star Wars Droids stamps, 10 designs in various sizes, included a varnish, high gloss coating on the Droids.
• The Sun Science stamps (10 designs) were printed with a foil treatment that adds a glimmer to the stamps.
• The Raven Story stamp inspired by the traditional story of the raven setting the sun, moon and stars free includes gold foil.
• The Message Monsters stamps (five designs) came complete with their own accessories. The selvage contained cartoony voice balloons and thought bubbles with exclamations and salutations, hats and crowns, hearts, stars, crazy daisies, and other fun flair making a fun addition to any piece of First-Class Mail.

Supporting causes in the public interest.

Semipostal stamps are First-Class Mail stamps sold at a price above the cost of a regular stamp to raise funds for designated causes. The dollar amounts below represent the funds the Postal Service has transferred to the causes listed.

• The Breast Cancer Research semipostal has raised more than $93.9 million since 1998. More than 1.09 billion Breast Cancer Research stamps have been sold.
• The Save Vanishing Species semipostal has raised more than $6.6 million since 2011.  More than 59.2 million Save Vanishing Species stamps have been sold.
• The Alzheimer’s semipostal has raised more than $1.2 million since 2017. More than 9.5 million Alzheimer’s stamps have been sold.
• The Healing PTSD semipostal has raised more than $1.4 billion since 2019. More than 13.5 million Healing PTSD stamps have been sold.

Postage stamps are miniature works of art designed to reflect the American experience. Stamps highlight heroes, history, milestones, achievements, and natural wonders. There’s a story behind every stamp.

The organization has also issued more than 140 stamps honoring the nation’s military history, including the Service Cross Medals stamps.

In addition, the Save Vanishing Species semipostal stamp has raised more than $6.6 million to support Multinational Species Conservation Funds since 2011. More than 59.2 million stamps have been sold.