Daily printout: Nov. 3

To mark Veterans Day this year, the Postal Service will recognize employees who have served in the military with a special badge and badge clip.

The badge, designed to be worn with an employee’s ID card, contains a message of appreciation from Postmaster General David Steiner and will be mailed to employees’ home addresses along with a thank-you note.

To ensure they receive these tokens of appreciation, employees who are veterans should go to the Veteran Resources page on the MyHR website to update their contact information and self-identify their military status.

This year’s Veterans Day activities also include a video message featuring Joseph Bruce, the USPS human resources vice president, and John Morgan, the organization’s delivery operations vice president.

There are approximately 65,000 Postal Service employees serving in the active-duty, Reserve or National Guard forces, or who are former members of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force or Coast Guard.

Employees who have questions can email the USPS Career Development team.

The Postal Service announced that it is prepared to deliver for the holidays, thanks to its continued investment in new technology and infrastructure.

In 2025, USPS delivered mail and packages, on average, in 2.5 days, and the organization expects to improve upon this performance.

“The Postal Service performed very well during last year’s holiday season, and we are even better prepared this year for the upcoming peak mailing and shipping season,” Postmaster General David Steiner said. “We have been preparing all year for this peak season, and we have enough capacity to handle whatever comes our way.”

The Postal Service’s areas of progress ahead of the 2026 holidays include:

• Increasing daily processing capacity: USPS has expanded daily package processing capacity by adding 673 state-of-the-art package sorting machines during the past six years, including 164 installed this year. These machines can handle more and larger parcels than older machines.

• Hiring more than 10,000 seasonal employees: Improved staffing, reduced supervisor vacancies and lowered overtime rates have contributed to a more stabilized workforce. As a result, the Postal Service will hire a little more than 10,000 seasonal employees — down from 40,000 a few years ago.

• Introducing next-generation package tracking: In 2025, USPS launched its next-generation package tracking and reporting platform. The tracking is nearly four times faster than the previous version and can provide updates within a minute of scanning. The platform works with other USPS systems to let customers see a more accurate location of their packages using the tracking tool on usps.com or Informed Delivery and ensures packages are delivered to the correct address.

• Debuting new facilities: Since 2022, the Postal Service has opened a total of 182 sorting and delivery centers, 19 regional processing and distribution centers, 68 local processing centers and four standalone regional transfer hubs.

• Improving strategic planning in targeted markets: The organization recently created the Chief Solutions and Strategy Office, which is tasked with centralizing network planning and identifying ways to work more effectively and efficiently. The group is also working closely with customers to match their needs with postal solutions.

• Putting new delivery vehicles on the road: USPS has received and deployed more than 45,000 new vehicles nationwide over the past three years.

• Simplifying returns: Customers can drop off return packages at one of more than 31,000 retail locations, use one of more than 3,000 self-service kiosks, or schedule a free carrier pickup to help make returns easier.

• Installing USPS Smart Lockers: The Postal Service has installed hundreds of USPS Smart Lockers across the nation. The lockers offer a free, secure and convenient way for customers and businesses to send and receive packages when home or business delivery isn’t practical or preferred.

• Making products and services widely available: Customers can rely on USPS Ground Advantage (2-5 business days), Priority Mail (2-3 business days) and Priority Mail Express (1-3 business days) during the holidays, with $100 insurance and tracking included on most shipments.

The Hatch Act is a law that restricts federal employees — including Postal Service employees — from engaging in certain political activities.

These include:

• Running as a candidate in a partisan election;

• Hosting or inviting people to a political fundraiser;

• Soliciting or collecting donations for a partisan political group, party or candidate; or

• Using their USPS position or title to influence an election.

While on duty, in uniform, in a postal vehicle, using a USPS-issued cellphone or on federal property, employees cannot:

• Wear apparel with messages for or against a partisan political group, party or candidate;

• Display a bumper sticker supporting a candidate for partisan political office on their personal vehicle while using that vehicle to make postal deliveries;

• Make statements for or against a partisan political group, party or candidate; or

• Post, like, share or repost messages on social media that are for or against a partisan political group, party or candidate.

The Hatch Act does not prohibit employees from voting or registering to vote; donating to a partisan group, party or candidate; attending political fundraisers; running as a candidate in a nonpartisan election; or serving as a poll watcher or election judge — as long as the employee is off duty, not in uniform, not in a postal vehicle and not on federal property.

A Hatch Act violation can result in a suspension, civil fines or a ban from federal employment.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency that investigates Hatch Act violations, has a list of answers to frequently asked questions on its website.

The Political Activity page on Blue also has additional information.

Employees with questions can email the USPS Ethics Office or call 202-268-6346.