Here are five facts about Michigan’s Grand Island ice caves, a natural phenomenon in Lake Superior and the subject of a Priority Mail Express stamp released last week. 1. Grand Island is marked by massive sandstone bluffs. While impressive in any season, the columns, which are 20-50 feet high, are especially dramatic in winter when […]
The Year of the Rat got off to an early start Jan. 11, when the Postal Service launched its latest Lunar New Year stamp series in Monterey Park, CA. Lunar New Year is an important holiday for many Asian communities, including people of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan, Mongolian, Malaysian and Filipino heritage. More than 20 […]
The Postal Service will soon introduce eBuy Plus, an improved version of its online requisition system. The new system, which will replace eBuy2, will be more intuitive and offer a better search engine. Other features will include reusable requisition templates, budget data that is visible on requisition screens, spend data reporting, and finance numbers that […]
Darryl Johnson likes to get it right. The Los Angeles letter carrier, who has worked for the Postal Service for more than 30 years, understands mistakes can be costly. “When a customer gets a broken or misdelivered package, they’ll tell five people, who’ll tell five more. It can keep multiplying until we get a bad […]
Did you know that three of the most common passwords among U.S. computer users last year were “qwerty,” “password” and “12345”? If you use generic passwords, the CyberSafe at USPS team is encouraging you to leave them behind. The start of 2020 is an ideal time to update the passwords for your USPS and personal […]
Greeting card promotion. USPS is offering a promotion on Hallmark greeting card purchases at select Post Offices. From Jan. 4-Feb. 14, customers will save $1 when they purchase two Hallmark cards. A coupon, available wherever Hallmark greeting cards are sold, is required. Traveling right. USPS is reminding employees that they must use Omega World Travel […]
Link is looking back at the year in “Heroes’ Corner” with a countdown of the five most-viewed articles. Coming in at No. 5 is “Legal aid,” the story of Jack Harzynski. The Buffalo, NY, business mail technician was off duty when he came to the aid of a sheriff struggling to defend himself during a […]
It’s time for Link’s annual year in review. We’ll spend the next few days taking a look back at 2019, including a four-part series that highlights the major headlines. Our coverage will also include stories about employees and customers who made news this year, as well as special year-end editions of our regular columns: “About […]
Postal Service employees are giving the news media a behind-the-scenes look at this year’s busy holiday season. “We call this our Super Bowl,” Michael Behrend, acting manager for the Des Moines, IA, Network Distribution Center, told KCCI, the local CBS station, during a recent tour of the plant. The facility has more than 500 employees, […]
There’s still time to help the less fortunate this holiday season through Operation Santa, but you must act soon. The annual program allows families in need to write letters to Santa Claus for “adoption” by those who want to help. The deadline to adopt letters this year is Friday, Dec. 20. Several versions of the […]
The Postal Service’s year-end financial report is discussed in Chief Financial Officer Joe Corbett’s latest “Dollars and Change” video. USPS recorded $71.1 billion in total operating revenue in fiscal 2019 (Oct. 1, 2018-Sept. 30, 2019) and $79.9 billion in total operating expenses. This left the organization with a net loss of $8.8 billion — an […]
Dwight Eisenhower was president when Ernie Topness began delivering mail in 1957. Sixty-two years later, Ike is long gone, but Topness is still going strong. The Cedar Rapids, IA, letter carrier began his postal career after serving in the Army for two years during the Korean War. Topness is the only USPS employee in Western […]
The Postal Service’s busiest week of the holiday season is now underway and if you need information — or inspiration — to get through the next few days, there’s plenty available. The USPS Holiday Newsroom site serves as a one-stop shop for fact sheets, recommended mailing and shipping dates, and links to usps.com, where customers […]
Peak season is peaking — and if you want to stay in the know, you need Link mobile, the Link news site’s mobile-friendly version. Link mobile offers the same content available on Link’s desktop version — including news reports, feature stories and informational videos — but in a format that’s easy to read on smartphones, […]
The “Courageous displays” article about the new law requiring Postal Service facilities to fly the POW-MIA flag year-round made my heart smile with pride. I’m a former Marine who has been a Postmaster for more than 20 years, and I always display the POW-MIA flag at my facility. Feedback from customers is always positive. […]
The Postal Service wants employees to use proper recycling procedures when discarding used batteries. In preparation for the holiday peak delivery season, many Post Offices and delivery units will likely replace used batteries in scanners and other equipment. Most depleted batteries, including lithium-ion batteries used in Mobile Delivery Devices and other types of scanners, contain […]
Theodore Rogers is looking forward to what will probably be his last holiday season at the Cardiss Collins Processing and Distribution Center in Chicago. “It’s just wonderful and nice what we do at the Postal Service for folks to celebrate Christmas,” said Rogers, who plans to retire next year. Along with getting into the holiday […]
USPS recently added technology at retail locations that provides employees with the capability to scan government identification cards with two-dimensional barcodes. Postal Service locations with Retail Systems Software (RSS) and mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) equipment can now scan these cards. The scans are required for Hold Mail and change of address requests. Scanning the […]
The Postal Service wants employees to watch out for “malvertisers” who con online holiday shoppers with bogus advertisements. Malvertisers are scammers who promote too-good-to-be-true deals in order to trick online shoppers into clicking links embedded in spoofed or fake ads. The links often lead to malware — malicious software designed to compromise computers once downloaded. […]
Hamilton Award. The Postal Service has won a silver award in this year’s Alexander Hamilton Awards, which are given by Treasury & Risk Magazine to honor innovation in the corporate treasury, finance and risk management sectors. USPS was recognized in the operation risk management and insurance category for implementing a system of “tokenizing” credit card […]
Giving Tuesday, a single-day charity drive held annually on the fifth day after Thanksgiving, is Dec. 3. Postal Service employees can participate by donating to the Combined Federal Campaign, the federal government’s workplace charity effort. Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 to encourage people from around the world to come together and do good deeds […]
The USPS Ethics Office wants employees to remember that complying with the organization’s rules on giving and receiving gifts is especially important during the holidays. The Ethics Office Blue page has a presentation to help employees become familiar with the rules, which are known as the standards of ethical conduct. The presentation includes the standards […]
The Postal Service is seeking nominations for the 2019 Postmaster General Sustainability Excellence Awards. The annual awards recognize areas, districts, facilities, teams and individuals who help foster sustainable workplaces. According to the call for nominations, USPS wants nominators to share stories from fiscal 2019 (Oct. 1, 2018-Sept. 30, 2019) that “demonstrate innovation, leadership and measurable […]
National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, an annual commemoration of the 1941 attack, will be observed Saturday, Dec. 7. Postal Service facilities are required to fly the U.S. flag at half-staff this day. To fly the flag at half-staff, hoist the flag to the peak for an instant and then lower it to the half-staff position. […]
Let’s chat. Postal Service employees can participate in a live chat with health insurance experts Wednesday, Dec. 4, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. EST. The chat is part of an online virtual benefits fair that is running during this year’s open season benefits enrollment period. The fair offers information about the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program […]
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The Postal Service is using a direct mailpiece to remind customers how the organization delivers for them during the holidays. “We have everything you need to send holiday gifts and greetings,” the piece states. “We’re helping spread holiday joy all across the country.” The mailer offers information on Priority Mail shipping products, holiday stamps, mailing […]
A new exhibit at the National Postal Museum in Washington, DC, takes a look at how another federal agency delivers letters, packages and even heavy equipment. “None Swifter Than These: 100 Years of Diplomatic Couriers” opened in September and is on view through Jan. 26, 2020. The U.S. Diplomatic Courier Service (DCS) carries the sensitive […]
The CyberSafe at USPS team is offering tips from the experts who spoke at the Postal Service’s recent Cybersecurity Awareness Fair in Washington, DC. According to the experts, protecting yourself from cyberattacks is as easy as ABC: • Always avoid poor cybersecurity behaviors. For instance, sharing passwords or discussing proprietary information in public can potentially […]
Do you wear eyeglasses, contact lenses or visit the dentist more than twice a year? If so, experts say a flexible spending account (FSA) is likely a good option for you. FSAs can help your health care dollars go further — but only if you plan accordingly. FSAs allow you to set aside money on […]