Freddie Bates, Los Angeles
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. […]
Shawn Selby
Posts by Shawn Selby
Dettman of the hour
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 […]
Work in progress
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 […]
Temperature check
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 […]
23 for ’23
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 […]
Setting the stage
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 […]
Network connectivity outages
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 […]
Derest Brown, Dallas
“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! […]
All in the family
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 […]
Relocation expenses
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 […]
Allies’ secret weapon
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 — […]
‘We need you’
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 […]
Price changes
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, […]
Maintenance move
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 […]
Danny Smith, Kansas City, MO
“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. […]
Hughson, we have a problem
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 […]
‘America Supports You’
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, […]
Under control
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 […]
World Post Day
World Post Day, an annual commemoration of mail’s role in the everyday lives of people and businesses, as well as its contribution to global social and economic development, will be observed Oct. 9. The theme of this year’s event is “Post for Planet,” which focuses on how national postal services can take a lead in […]
‘Sparky’ of genius
The Postal Service released its latest stamps — a salute to cartoonist Charles M. “Sparky” Schulz — at the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, CA, on Sept. 30. “The Postal Service is pleased to present its new Forever stamps commemorating the birth centennial of Charles M. Schulz, the beloved creator […]
Cybersafety first
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, an observance whose importance has grown exponentially since it was established in 2004. The theme chosen by the USPS Corporate Information Security Office this year — Stay CyberSafe and Deliver for America — emphasizes the critical role cybersecurity plays in supporting the Delivering for America plan. A good first step […]
A room of one’s own
The Combined Federal Campaign’s cause of the week is housing and shelter. One of the silver linings of the pandemic was that fewer people were homeless, thanks to coronavirus relief funds and eviction moratoriums. According to a 2021 assessment by the Department of Housing and Urban Development: • The number of sheltered families with children […]
Martha Carson, Guysville, OH
The Holiday Elves Forever stamps — highlighted in the “Jolly entrance” article — are adorable! They will certainly be popular with customers this season. […]
Up in smoke
Carrier Technician Joshua Cirrito was recently delivering mail in a Williamsville, NY, neighborhood when he spotted smoke and flames billowing from a residence. Cirrito rushed to the front door, banged on it and rang the bell until the homeowners — an older couple — answered, unaware they were in danger. At a safe distance from […]
Mobile service
As part of National Preparedness Month, the Postal Service is encouraging employees to make sure their personal mobile devices are ready for an emergency and know how to use the device’s features prior to such an event. Having a properly prepared mobile device helps keep you alerted, powered and able to contact the correct people […]
Missing messages?
The Postal Service is alerting employees and contractors that the organization’s email system automatically blocks documents embedded with macros, which could prevent messages from reaching recipients. Macros are programmed to instruct computers to automate certain repeated tasks, such as formatting documents or executing complex calculations in Microsoft Excel. While useful, macros can also be exploited […]
100 years? Good grief!
The Postal Service is issuing a set of 10 fun-filled stamps on Sept. 30 to mark the centennial of cartoonist Charles M. Schulz’s birth. Schulz’s original “Peanuts” comic strip ran in newspapers from 1950 until a day after his death in 2000. His work still runs in many papers as “Classic Peanuts.” The strip introduced […]
The big 5-0
The Postal Service’s Informed Delivery now has more than 50 million subscribers, a significant milestone for the popular free feature. Launched in 2017, Informed Delivery allows consumers to digitally preview their incoming mail and manage their package delivery from computers, smartphones and other devices. “Informed Delivery is changing the way consumers engage with their mail […]
Hurricane Ian
The Postal Service is responding to Hurricane Ian, a Category 4 storm in the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane made landfall in Southwest Florida on the afternoon of Sept. 28, bringing storm surges, torrential rain and damaging winds to the state. To protect employees and the public, USPS has suspended mail delivery and retail operations […]
Working together
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy delivered a videotaped keynote address to postal customer councils for National PCC Week. In the 10-minute message, DeJoy looks back on what has been accomplished under the Delivering for America plan and the changes that are ahead. “Together, we have now started to change the direction of the Postal Service. We […]