Friday, February 7, 2025
USPS, Inspection Service detail efforts to combat crime
The briefings highlight Project Safe Delivery
Robberies of letter carriers have dropped 27 percent and there have been more than 2,400 arrests since the expansion of the Project Safe Delivery crime initiative in 2023, USPS and the Postal Inspection Service announced last month.
Representatives from both USPS and the Inspection Service are leading a series of news briefings across the nation about Project Safe Delivery and other anti-crime efforts.
The first briefing was held Jan. 23 at the Boston General Mail Facility, where Danielle Schrage, a postal inspector, and Stephen Doherty, a USPS communications specialist, briefed reporters from six media outlets.
Additional briefings in other cities will be held in the coming weeks.
The topics being discussed include:
• The Inspection Service’s ongoing targeted surges in high-crime areas, which have yielded 1,300 investigative actions and dozens of arrests in the past 12 months; and
• Efforts to make guidance on preventing mail theft and identity fraud available at Post Offices nationwide.
The briefings also included an overview of the Inspection Service’s efforts to educate the public on ways to protect themselves from smishing and other ploys designed to steal their identity — and ultimately their money.
The Inspection Service’s website has more information.
People
On the map
A Post Office receives praise, a postmaster gears up for Valentine’s Day and an art director recalls a fateful meeting
The USPS social media heatmap lit up like a Christmas tree for the Berea, KY, Post Office during peak season.
The heatmap — an internal application the organization uses to cull information from online reviews from more than 30 websites — allows USPS to track customer sentiment.
A score of “5” is the top mark — a number Berea hit often during this busy time of year.
One commenter said: “I travel a lot, and this Post Office was unique. It was clean. Well-stocked with mailing supplies. Staff was smiling and very helpful.”
Another wrote: “The Berea Post Office has got it down … They’re going to do what they can to help you and they’re going to be very friendly about it.”
In the words of Jenny Moody, a retail associate: “Who wouldn’t love such comments?”
Labor of love
Speaking of peak season: It’s that time of year for Ismelda Ornelas.
The postmaster for Valentine, TX, roughly 200 miles southwest of Midland, TX, cancels between 10,000 and 12,000 envelopes by hand before Feb. 14 each year at the tiny adobe Post Office.
Valentine’s population in the 2020 census: 73.
“This will be my sixth Valentine’s Day as postmaster, yet every year feels different; each brings a new experience, new artwork, new creativity,” Ornelas said.
“I truly enjoy stamping the Valentine postmark on every card and letter that comes through this Post Office and look forward to it every year.”
An annual contest among the area’s schoolchildren determines what the postmark will be. This year’s winning design features a desert landscape and campfire, with a sign reading “Love Station.”
A fateful meeting
Antonio Alcalá, a longtime art director for USPS, has so much experience in the world of stamp design that it’s hard to imagine him as a bright-eyed “fanboy.”
But that is the term he used to describe his chance meeting decades ago with the late artist Keith Haring, whose work graces this year’s Love stamp. The encounter is described in “From the Street to a Stamp,” a story on the Stamps Forever website.
Alcalá spotted Haring gliding by on a skateboard one day in Manhattan, and gathering up his courage, approached.
“Haring didn’t just chat — he sketched a Batman-like figure on Alcala’s backpack, which he also signed and dated,” the story recounts. The backpack remains a cherished possession that Alcalá has stored in an archival box.
The art director had wanted to feature Haring’s work on stamps for years, but it was the recommendation from a former colleague suggesting Haring’s work for the Love series that set the stamp in motion.
The fanboy seems pleased with the result. “The figures look happy and joyous, almost as if they’re dancing, while the heart radiates love,” he said.
“People” appears regularly in Link. Got news to share? Email us.
News Quiz
An exacting adventure
Do you know about the couple who visited all of Maine’s Post Offices?
“News Quiz” is a weekly feature that lets you test your knowledge of recent Link stories. The correct answers appear at the end.
1. In their quest to go to all the Post Offices in Maine, customers Al D’Andrea and Margit Ahlin set their own record by visiting how many in just one day?
a) 30
b) 34
c) 39
d) 41
2. The Postal Service employs how many military veterans?
a) 56,000
b) 64,000
c) 68,000
d) 72,000
3. Who is interviewed on the latest episode of “Mailin’ It,” the Postal Service’s podcast?
a) Lindsey Buckingham
b) Lindsey Graham
c) Lindsey Taylor
d) Lindsey Vonn
4. What does Dillon Holiday, a mail handler in Manasota, FL, say is the biggest lesson he has learned as a mixed martial arts fighter?
a) Confidence
b) Discipline
c) Focus
d) Patience
5. How many USPS employees are represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers?
a) 180,000
b) 200,000
c) 220,000
d) 250,000
Answers: 1) a. 2) d. 3) c. 4) d. 5) b.
Postal Bulletin takes a look at new money order
Postal Bulletin’s latest edition, published Feb. 6, offers details about the newly redesigned domestic USPS money order.
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.
View past printouts
Printout details
What's included
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USPS, Inspection Service detail efforts to combat crime
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People
On the map
A Post Office receives praise, a postmaster gears up for Valentine’s Day and an art director recalls a fateful meeting
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News Quiz
An exacting adventure
Do you know about the couple who visited all of Maine’s Post Offices?
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Brief
Postal Bulletin takes a look at new money order