Monday, January 27, 2025
A special dedication for a special stamp
USPS ceremony for the latest Love release takes place in artist’s hometown
The Postal Service dedicated the latest stamp in its Love series at the Kutztown, PA, Post Office on Jan. 17.
The Love (2025) stamp features two faceless moving figures reaching toward a red heart. It is from an untitled 1985 work by artist Keith Haring (1958-1990), who was raised in Kutztown.
The image allows the viewer to project their own meaning of love in the context of their choosing.
“It is the absolute perfect image to have for love. Keith’s universal symbols mean that love is for everybody,” said Karen DeLong, the artist’s sister, who took part in the dedication along with Kutztown Postmaster Bruno Facini Jr.
“I think it’s really special to have this in Kutztown, because this is where he was from,” DeLong said. “Everybody that’s known him through the years, he would always introduce himself in New York as Keith from Kutztown.”
Friends, family members and locals filled the Post Office — site of a New Deal-era mural — for the event.
“It’s a really inclusive stamp,” said Martin Maguss, a customer. “It shows Keith’s iconography to the best. He was a humanitarian, and I am so excited to be here.”
Heroes
He answered a call for help
This letter carrier found an older customer lying on a floor
Letter Carrier Jeremy Burnett was delivering mail at an apartment complex in Wichita, KS, recently when he heard someone yelling for help.
He searched the three-story building until he came to a door that was partially opened, allowing him to see that an older woman was lying on the floor.
The Postal Service employee called 911 and remained with the customer until paramedics arrived.
“She uses a walker,” said Regina Engstrand, the building’s manager. “She was on the floor for about an hour before Jeremy heard her calling for help.”
Employees featured in “Heroes” receive letters of commendation through the Postmaster General Heroes’ Program. The nomination form is available on Blue.
Week in Review
Here’s what Link covered Jan. 19-25
Standup letter carriers, price changes and more made news
Last week, Link brought you stories of conscientious, consistent and colorful Postal Service employees who contribute to their communities.
Letter Carrier Jeremy Burnett was delivering mail at an apartment building in Wichita, KS, when he heard a cry for help and investigated its source. He saw a door ajar and a woman on the floor. He called 911 and waited with her until paramedics arrived, as recounted in “Heroes.”
“On the Job” introduced us to another letter carrier, Eugene Leader, who was born in St. Kitts and has been delivering mail on the same route in Manhasset, NY, since 2007. “The best part of my job are my customers,” he said.
And “Off the Clock” told us the story of Brandy Freeman, a graphic designer at USPS headquarters who loves to sing and takes part in a competitive karaoke team after work.
“I love the energy of the crowd and the rush I get when performing these often zany concepts,” Freeman said.
Link also brought news of shipping services price changes and a new design for money orders.
Speaking of out-there concepts, two new stamp releases, Spiral Galaxy and Star Cluster, for Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express respectively, feature images captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
And 1794 Compass Rose, a round Global Forever International stamp, features a 32-point compass rose drawn by Lucia Wadsworth — the aunt of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — in her school geography notebook in 1794, when she was 10 years old.
February 2, 2025
Datebook
Virtual supervisory job fair
The Postal Service will offer a virtual job fair for supervisory positions on Sunday, Feb. 2, from 1 to 3 p.m. Eastern.
The fair will address the supervisory role, including responsibilities, potential career paths and how to find and apply for positions.
Sign language interpreters and closed captioning will be available, and after the fair, participants will be able to access a recording of it and the slides shown.
To participate, employees must complete an online registration form on MyHR, part of LiteBlue.
All participants must be a current career or noncareer Postal Service employee and attend while off the clock. Participation is voluntary.
Facilities should report chemicals by March 1
Postal Service facilities that store certain quantities of hazardous chemicals must complete and submit the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) Tier II form by March 1 each year.
Reporting requirements apply to any location that stores threshold quantities of EPCRA-regulated chemicals, such as sulfuric acid in lead-acid and gel cell batteries, gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, propane and ice melt/anti-skid products.
In most cases, the federal reporting threshold is 10,000 pounds.
USPS facilities that exceed this threshold must complete and submit an EPCRA Tier II form to notify state and local emergency response agencies about the potential hazards on site.
The Environmental Affairs Tier II Reporting Environmental Compliance Bulletin has more information.
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A special dedication for a special stamp
USPS ceremony for the latest Love release takes place in artist’s hometown
-
Heroes
He answered a call for help
This letter carrier found an older customer lying on a floor
-
Week in Review
Here’s what Link covered Jan. 19-25
Standup letter carriers, price changes and more made news
-
February2Datebook
Virtual supervisory job fair
-
Brief
Facilities should report chemicals by March 1