As the new year dawned last week, Link looked back at 2024 — and looked ahead.
We told you how the Postal Inspection Service maintained a round-the-clock operations center to safeguard the nation’s Election Mail last fall, offered a special year-end edition of “On the Job” and took another look at some of the best photographs we published last year.
Link also introduced you to a unique customer whose livelihood is firmly rooted in the past: John Coffer, a “wet-plate artist” who uses a photographic technique that dates to the 1850s. He communicates with clients solely by U.S. Mail.
“Only the most interested and thoughtful will take the time and effort to write,” he wrote in an interview conducted by mail.
We also took a look at the year ahead, offering a calendar that shows 2025 paydays, a preview of the big events expected to take place this year and a reminder that the deadline for the latest Combined Federal Campaign is approaching.
Additionally, we introduced you to Nathan Slentz, a Lincolnton, NC, letter carrier who safely shielded customers from a robbery in a variety store, and Henry Hirschman, a 13-year-old Rhode Island student who is writing letters to someone in every state.
One of his recipients: Barbara Batin, who recently retired as manager of the USPS Remote Encoding Center in Salt Lake City.
“I was so impressed. I thought this is phenomenal that there is a 13-year-old in Rhode Island who loves to write to people,” she said.
