Friday, March 22, 2024
A natural pairing
The new Celebration Blooms and Wedding Blooms stamps are designed for special occasions
The Postal Service will release two complementary stamps — Celebration Blooms and Wedding Blooms — on Friday, March 22.
Both stamps are designed for use on special occasion invitations and RSVPs but they are suitable for any correspondence.
Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed the stamps using existing illustrations by artist Kim Parker. Both stamps feature abstract florals in vivid hues of red, yellow, purple, pink, green and blue rendered in ink and gouache.
Celebration Blooms is a horizontal 1-ounce stamp. It is a Forever stamp, meaning it will always be equal in value to the current 1-ounce price.
Wedding Blooms is a vertically oriented 2-ounce stamp and will always be valid for the rate printed on it.
Both stamps will be issued in panes of 20 and will be available at Post Offices and usps.com.
A new video celebrates bluegrass
USPS highlights the music behind the stamp
The Postal Service has released a video about its new Bluegrass stamp.
The Forever stamp celebrates the homegrown musical style, which draws from several traditions — especially the folk music of Appalachia.
The three-minute video features Steve Monteith, the USPS chief customer and marketing officer; Chris Joslin, the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s executive director; and Heather Moulder, who helped design the stamp.
Postal Bulletin covers Heat Illness Prevention Program
Postal Bulletin’s latest edition, published March 21, details the Postal Service’s Heat Illness Prevention Program.
Updates to the organization’s policies, procedures and forms are also included.
Employees can go to usps.com to read and download the latest Postal Bulletin, along with past issues.
Heroes
The accidental chef
An employee aided a boy after a kitchen mishap
City Carrier Assistant Rodrick Clayton Sr. was making deliveries recently in Hubbard, TX, when he saw a 12-year-old boy run out of a residence, screaming.
Clayton rushed to check on the child, who had burned his face while cooking.
The Postal Service employee called 911, rendered first aid and stayed with the boy until paramedics arrived.
The child’s mother later thanked Clayton for helping her son.
Employees featured in “Heroes” receive letters of commendation through the Postmaster General Heroes’ Program. The nomination form is available on Blue.
People
Remembering ‘Aunt Connie’
A mail handler recalls her connection to Constance Baker Motley and a carrier retires after 66 years
Constance Baker Motley, the subject of this year’s Black Heritage stamp, is remembered as a trailblazing icon of the Civil Rights Movement, but to Jeanette Perry, she was “Aunt Connie.”
Perry, a Melville, NY, mail handler, is Motley’s great niece. They met when Motley spoke at another relative’s graduation ceremony.
Days later, Motley and Perry went to lunch.
“That lunch lasted five hours. I was just absorbing everything she had to tell me,” Perry said.
During her storied legal career, Motley represented Martin Luther King Jr. and worked with future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
It’s a legacy Motley’s family remains very proud of, according to Perry, who has also worked as a paralegal.
Several women in the family are named Constance in Motley’s honor, she added.
“She was a loving person. I am glad she is finally getting recognized,” Perry said.
Clocking out
“It’s been a good run.”
That whopper of an understatement was made by Alfonzo T. Wilson Jr., who recently retired after a 66-year postal career.
The Cleveland letter carrier admitted to needing some guidance on how not to work. “I have some friends who are already retired, and they are trying to teach me how to retire,” he said.
Wilson started with the organization in 1957, when it was known as the Post Office Department, and has served as both an on-the-job instructor and union representative.
He was chosen as one of 25 employees to be interviewed for a USPS oral history project in 2021.
“Not only do I enjoy the people I work with and work for,” he told a local TV news crew, “but the [customers] on my route were magnificent and I love them.”
The feeling is no doubt mutual.
“People” appears regularly in Link. Got news to share? Email us.
News Quiz
Encore! Encore!
See how much you remember about these recent Link stories
“News Quiz” is a weekly feature that lets you test your knowledge of recent Link stories. The correct answers appear at the end.
1. Fill in the blank: An actor portrayed (blank) at the recent Underground Railroad stamp ceremony.
a) Frederick Douglass
b) Harriet Jacobs
c) Harriet Tubman
d) None of the above
2. Where will you find the videos on the new Postal Service Health Benefits Program?
a) Blue
b) LiteBlue
c) MyHR
d) None of the above
3. True or false: USPS employees aren’t allowed to endorse nonpostal products, services and businesses.
a) True
b) False
4. How many letters were transported during this year’s Hashknife Pony Express run in Arizona?
a) 24
b) 200
c) 20,000
d) None of the above
5. Match the “Off the Clock” subject in Column A with his or her hobby in Column B.
Column A
a) Cesar Guerrero, Los Angeles Postal Police officer
b) Jacob Howley, Washington, DC, attorney
c) Christian Johnston, Salt Lake City customer relations coordinator
d) Douglas Lowe, Hope, ID, postmaster
Column B
I) Golf
II) Music
III) Musical theater
IV) Scuba diving
Answers: 1) c. 2) c. 3) a. 4) c. 5) a. I., b. II., c. III., d. IV.
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Printout details
What's included
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A natural pairing
The new Celebration Blooms and Wedding Blooms stamps are designed for special occasions
-
A new video celebrates bluegrass
USPS highlights the music behind the stamp
-
Brief
Postal Bulletin covers Heat Illness Prevention Program
-
Heroes
The accidental chef
An employee aided a boy after a kitchen mishap
-
People
Remembering ‘Aunt Connie’
A mail handler recalls her connection to Constance Baker Motley and a carrier retires after 66 years
-
News Quiz
Encore! Encore!
See how much you remember about these recent Link stories