Tuesday, June 3, 2025
There are rules about outside gifts
USPS can accept on behalf of an employee under certain circumstances
The Postal Service is reminding employees that federal ethics rules generally prohibit them from accepting gifts of monetary value from anyone outside the organization.
USPS itself, however, can accept a gift under its agency gift acceptance authority if the gift is necessary or convenient for postal business.
For example, if an employee is offered free attendance at a conference featuring educational or networking opportunities that could benefit the Postal Service, the organization could exercise its agency gift acceptance authority and allow the employee to attend the event.
A USPS vice president or other officer must make that determination, and the organization’s ethics and legal compliance team must agree.
Employees with questions should email the USPS Ethics Office or call 202-268-6346. The Ethics Blue page has more information.
On the Job
This IT manager ensures USPS stays connected
A supercomputer sparked Derrick Milling’s fascination with technology
My name is Derrick Milling and I’m the IT client support manager at USPS headquarters in Washington, DC.
My primary responsibility is providing IT support for the Postal Service’s leaders. My team assists about 65 people, including officers, vice presidents and their direct reports.
I usually begin my day at 6:30 a.m., but I’m never truly offline. I monitor everything and I have to be on top of system issues.
IT has been part of my life since I was 10 years old and my parents took me to see a Cray Supercomputer. It was the size of a warehouse. I said to myself, “I like that.”
I was a military brat. My mom was U.S. Navy and my dad was U.S. Army. I grew up in Germany. After I graduated from college, I joined the Army.
I became a Green Beret and I learned to speak Arabic. But even when I was in combat, I was still a computer geek.
My introduction to the Postal Service was as a contractor at the technical solutions center in Raleigh, NC. I became a career employee in 2010.
If you see me at headquarters, I’m the guy with the service dog. His name is Crypto.
I’m often running cables or pushing a cart of computers. There is always something to do. There is always something to monitor. There’s always a new project. I love it.
“On the Job,” a column on individual employees and their contributions to the Postal Service, appears regularly in Link.
Are your USPS accounts safe?
Here are tips for creating and keeping strong passwords, passphrases and PINs
The Postal Service is reminding employees and contractors to use strong and unique passwords, passphrases and personal identification numbers, or PINs, for their USPS accounts.
Doing so will help safeguard the Postal Service’s computer network, protect sensitive information and prevent cybercriminals from stealing the organization’s data.
Passwords are a string of characters; passphrases are a mix of memorable words, numbers and symbols; PINs are short, numeric codes.
Here are some tips for passwords, passphrases and PINs:
• Don’t save your passphrases in browsers because not all browsers store usernames and passwords securely.
• Create 15-character passphrases and complex PINs that do not include your birthdate or sequential numbers such as 1234.
• Never writedown passwords, passphrases or PINs, and never share them. Make sure to enter them discreetly.
The USPS Management Instruction on Password Complexity and the CyberSafe at USPS Blue and LiteBlue pages have more information.
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There are rules about outside gifts
USPS can accept on behalf of an employee under certain circumstances
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On the Job
This IT manager ensures USPS stays connected
A supercomputer sparked Derrick Milling’s fascination with technology
-
Are your USPS accounts safe?
Here are tips for creating and keeping strong passwords, passphrases and PINs