The Combined Federal Campaign’s cause of the week is military support. The Postal Service has deep ties to the military community — more than 68,000 USPS employees are veterans of the armed forces. They are colleagues who understand firsthand the hardships and sacrifices of service: long separations, celebrations spent apart, uncertain futures, frequent moves, and […]
A new Postal Service video takes viewers behind the scenes during the filming of the 2022 holiday television commercial. “Every year, we cast real employees in our advertising. And I love that because it just adds to the authenticity of our brand,” says Marketing Vice President Sheila Holman, who was on site during the filming […]
Central Area is the winner of the USPS Connect Local Cup challenge. Employees from all four Postal Service areas submitted a total of 7,592 sales leads for the new USPS Connect Local delivery option during fiscal year 2022. USPS Connect Local, which began a national rollout in February, offers businesses affordable next-day delivery in select […]
The Postal Service has updated its own history book. Publication 100, The United States Postal Service: An American History, traces the organization’s evolution from the Colonial era to the digital age. “It tells the fascinating story of our ever-changing and improving institution,” said Judy de Torok, the Postal Service’s corporate affairs vice president. “I hope […]
The new stamps — highlighted in the “23 in ’23” article — are impressive. We have such interesting and colorful stamps to look forward to next year. […]
Letter Carrier Jacob Wilkins was recently making deliveries in a Mitchell, NE, neighborhood when he grew concerned about a customer whose mail was piling up. Wilkins asked police to check on the man, and officers found nothing amiss, but the Postal Service employee continued to worry. Several days later, Wilkins asked officers to check again, […]
Daylight saving time will end Sunday, Nov. 6, at 2 a.m. In areas where the change is observed, people will “fall back” and set their clocks back one hour at bedtime Nov. 5. Standard time will be in effect until March 12, 2023, when daylight saving time will resume. […]
The Postal Service is continuing to install state-of-the-art package sorting machines, part of the Delivering for America plan to modernize the organization. The small delivery unit sorter, also called an SDUS, can process 2,000 packages, weighing up to 30 pounds each, an hour. These machines process packages 12 times faster than manual sorting, which had […]
In a new video, the Fort Myers, FL, postmaster discusses the dedication of Postal Service employees following Hurricane Ian. “I don’t have a good feeling about this one,” James Chambers remembers thinking as the storm approached. Despite the devastation caused by Ian, Chambers describes how USPS employees continued to work, delivering important mail and packages […]
The Postal Service will observe Native American Heritage Month, which honors the Indigenous peoples and cultures of the United States, during November. The monthlong observance’s theme this year is “Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces.” USPS has issued scores of stamps celebrating Native subjects over the years, beginning with a […]
The Combined Federal Campaign’s cause of the week is animal welfare. According to 2019 statistics from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: • About 6.3 million companion animals entered U.S. shelters. • Around 920,000 didn’t make it out alive. While those numbers are a big improvement from 2011 — when the […]
Postal Service employees can participate in an upcoming webinar on preparing for retirement. The session, “Retirement 101,” will be held Nov. 3 at noon Eastern. An Aetna representative will lead the webinar, which will cover how retirement benefits work and will include tools and resources to help employees plan for changes. Participants must register before […]
I applaud Tracy Lawrence — the female tractor-trailer operator profiled in the “Queen of the road” article — and her inspiring personality. I wish her continued safety throughout her postal career. […]
Letter Carrier Mitchell Dettman was recently delivering mail in Sac City, IA, when he spotted flames leaping from a trash can near a residence. Dettman rushed to the front door to alert the homeowner, who called 911. The Postal Service employee then grabbed a garden hose and battled the blaze until firefighters arrived. “The fire […]
The Postal Service’s latest Delivering for America postcard is on its way to employees’ mailboxes. The card highlights achievements made during the first year of the organization’s 10-year plan to modernize USPS, including enactment of postal reform legislation, billions of dollars in infrastructure investment and the conversion of more than 100,000 precareer employees to career […]
An innovative tool from the USPS Social Business Intelligence team is using social media information to measure customer service satisfaction. The social media heat map uses the data visualization program Tableau to geographically display comments left on the organization’s official Facebook and Twitter accounts and from online review sites. Mary Beth Levin, the Postal Service’s […]
The Postal Service has announced 23 stamp releases for 2023: • Year of the Rabbit, the fourth in the 12-stamp Lunar New Year series, featuring a three-dimensional mask depicting a rabbit; • Love, two designs in vintage-valentine style of a kitten and a puppy resting their paws on a big red heart; • Great Smoky […]
The Combined Federal Campaign’s cause of the week is arts and humanities. A report released in March by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bureau of Economic Analysis paints a bleak picture of the coronavirus pandemic’s effect on the sector: • Between 2019 and 2020, the U.S. arts economy shrank at nearly twice […]
The Postal Service has added network connectivity outages to OpAWARE, a dashboard that helps managers make operational decisions. OpAWARE, an acronym for Operations Automated Weather Alert & Realtime Events, provides information on hurricanes, storms and other weather events that affect postal operations. Any user on the USPS internal network can access OpAWARE. The data feed […]
“Queen of the road” was an excellent profile of Tracy Lawrence, a female tractor-trailer operator in Minnesota-North Dakota District. Kudos to the queen! […]
Rural Carrier Tony Merschman was recently delivering mail when he spotted a customer who’d fallen in her driveway and couldn’t get up on her own. Merschman rushed to the woman’s aid and safely carried her inside her residence. She declined medical attention, but the Postal Service employee was concerned about injuries she sustained when she […]
Employee relocation expense requests submitted after Nov. 18 will be processed for payment after Jan. 2, 2023. This deadline will ensure that the organization has adequate time to record and report all relocation expenses for 2022 tax purposes. Employees should refer any questions to their relocation counselor or send an email to the USPS relocation […]
The Postal Service dedicated its latest Forever stamp, Women Cryptologists of World War II, at the National Cryptologic Museum in Annapolis Junction, MD, on Oct. 18. The stamp honors the 11,000 women who helped process and decipher an endless stream of enemy military messages during the war. “Their work was both frustrating and exhilarating — […]
In his latest video message, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy discusses how the Postal Service will evolve as an employer. But first, he recognized employees for their efforts in the ongoing aftermaths of Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico and Hurricane Ian in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. “Many of the communities that we serve and that […]
USPS has notified the Postal Regulatory Commission of plans to adjust prices on market-dominant products and services. This includes raising certain First-Class Mail, Periodicals, Marketing Mail, Package Service and Special Services prices. The price of a Forever stamp will increase by 3 cents from 60 cents to 63 cents. If favorably reviewed by the commission, […]
The Postal Service is moving Field Maintenance Operations to a new place in the organization. Over the past two years, the Postal Service has made significant changes to its organizational structure to better align functions in support of its core business operations through the Delivering for America plan. Field Maintenance Operations, which had been part […]
“Display of affection,” the article about a Philadelphia woman who created a mail display to honor her father, was heartwarming. Stories of love, heritage and inspiration are always the ingredients to a winning story line. Thanks for sharing. […]
Rural Carrier Heather Parmley was recently making deliveries in Hughson, CA, when she grew concerned about an older customer who had not collected mail as usual. Parmley spoke through the front door but got no response, at which point a neighbor came out and offered to call the woman. When the customer’s phone rang, Parmley […]
The Postal Service has released this year’s suggested mail-by dates for customers who want to send holiday letters and packages to diplomatic and military service members overseas. The dates are listed in an Oct. 6 news release, along with details on ordering free military care kits and guidelines for addressing packages to Army/Air Post Offices, […]
The Postal Service is reminding employees to always follow procedures to properly manage, store and dispose of pesticides. Pesticides are regulated because they contain chemicals that can be dangerous to human health, the environment and water quality. Never purchase or apply restricted-use pesticides or concentrated pesticides that require mixing. USPS prohibits employees from mixing or […]