Tuesday, May 26, 2026
USPS, union extend contract talks
Negotiations with NALC will continue
USPS and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) have agreed to continue contract negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement through the mediation period.
Although the contract with the NALC expires on May 22, the Postal Service and the union mutually agreed to extend negotiations.
The NALC represents more than 200,000 letter carriers nationwide.
Here’s the winner of the Stamp Encore contest
The 2018 Mister Rogers stamp takes the prize
The Postal Service announced the Mister Rogers stamp from 2018 as the winner of last summer’s Stamp Encore contest.
The Postal Service created a list of 25 stamp panes released since 1997 for the contest.
Customers and USPS employees voted for their favorite from the choices by either visiting the USPS Stamps Forever website or by printing a paper ballot and mailing it in.
The announcement of the winning stamp was timed to coincide with the Boston 2026 World Expo stamp show, which began May 23.
The Mister Rogers stamp was dedicated on March 23, 2018. It honors the host and creative force behind the “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” children’s TV show, which aired nationally from 1968 to 2001.
The series addressed the experiences of growing up — dealing with topics such as sharing and friendship — and featured a blend of music, puppets and visits to places like farms, factories and museums.
“Mister Rogers and his ‘Neighborhood of Make-Believe’ made the ups and downs of life easier to understand for the youngest members of our society,” said then-Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan, who led the ceremony which took place at the studio where the show was made in Pittsburgh.
The Mister Rogers stamp features Rogers wearing a red cardigan and standing with King Friday XIII, a character from the show’s fictional puppet kingdom
Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp using a photograph by Walt Seng.
“When we issued the Mister Rogers stamp in 2018, we ordered a print run of some 12 million. That may sound like a lot, but Mister Rogers really took us by surprise,” said Isaac Cronkhite, the Postal Service’s chief processing and distribution officer, who spoke at the announcement in Boston.
“Within just a few weeks, the stamps honoring this humble, softspoken man had sold out completely,” he said.
The Forever stamp, issued in panes of 20, and a new four-stamp Mister Rogers souvenir sheet, will be available at Post Offices and usps.com starting June 1.
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These stamps show off items from the American Revolution
The 10 artifacts include a teapot, currency and a battle map
The Postal Service will release its Treasures of the Revolutionary Era prestige stamp booklet on Saturday, May 23.
The stamps feature 10 objects from the American Revolution, which began 250 years ago.
The booklet includes two sets of the 10 stamps and features images and background text that provide historical context for each object.
The featured artifacts from this period show how ordinary people helped turn a fractured collection of 13 Colonies into a nation: a teapot, paper currency, a military flag, a watercolor of George Washington’s army, a powder horn, a spinning wheel, a map of the Battle of Yorktown, the Badge of Military Merit, a wampum belt and a patriotic signboard.
Ethel Kessler, an art director for USPS, designed the stamps and booklet.
The dedication ceremony will take place at the opening of the Boston 2026 World Exposition, a major international stamp show.
The prestige booklets contain 20 Forever stamps and will be available at Post Offices and on usps.com.
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This stamp pays tribute to the American bison
The issue blends a modern photo with a design from 1923
The Postal Service will release its American Bison stamp on Monday, May 25.
The stamp features the American bison, also known as the buffalo, the largest land mammal in North America.
Once numbering in the millions, the bison population dwindled to a few hundred by the late 1800s because of overhunting and westward expansion.
Conservation efforts in the early 20th century helped restore wild herds, which now thrive in national parks and on tribal lands.
In 2016, Congress designated the bison as the national mammal, recognizing its cultural, historical, economic and ecological significance.
The stamp design combines a contemporary photograph of a wild bison grazing in Yellowstone National Park with artwork inspired by the 1923 American Buffalo stamp.
The original stamp was designed by Clair Aubrey Huston, and featured an engraving based on a drawing by artist Charles R. Knight. The engraving was created by Louis Schofield, with frame engravings by Edward M. Hall and Joachim C. Benzing.
Greg Breeding, an art director for USPS, designed the new stamp using an existing photograph by Tom Murphy. The image was converted to black and white and is sepia-tinted to match the vintage design.
A dedication ceremony will take place at the Boston 2026 World Exposition stamp show.
The Forever stamps will be available in sheets of 16 at Post Offices and on usps.com.
Email us your feedback. Your comments could be included in our “Mail” column.
These stamps will go around the world
The international release pays tribute to postcard-mail project
The Postal Service will issue its Postcrossing stamps on Tuesday, May 26.
The four stamps celebrate sending and receiving international mail, and recognize Postcrossing, which is a global project that enables participants to send and receive postcards from random people around the world.
Postcrossing was created in 2005 by Portuguese student Paulo Magalhães. Since its launch, more than 800,000 people in more than 200 countries and territories have sent more than 85 million postcards.
The new stamps are triangular and feature four colorful scenes that acknowledge the distances postcards travel and the postal workers who deliver them.
They include a rider on horseback in the American West; a diver in scuba gear; an astronaut in space; and a person on a motorcycle.
Each stamp contains a figure with a postcard featuring one of these triangular stamps.
The stamps were designed by Antonio Alcalá, an art director for USPS, with illustrations by Jackson Gibbs.
A dedication ceremony for the stamps will take place at the Boston 2026 World Expo.
The Global Forever stamps will be available in sheets of eight at Post Offices and on usps.com.
Email us your feedback. Your comments could be included in our “Mail” column.
Heroes
He found a customer on the ground
This letter carrier assisted a man who fell and fractured his hip
Letter Carrier Daniel J. Rams was delivering mail in Cape Coral, FL, recently when he saw a customer on the ground.
The man had fallen on the way to the mailbox and was in great pain.
The Postal Service employee called 911 and stayed with him until paramedics arrived.
The customer was taken to a nearby hospital and had surgery for a fractured hip.
He is recovering at home.
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 May 17-23
Bald eagle stamps and a food drive roundup made news
The new Bald Eagle: From Hatchling to Adult stamps were dedicated at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN, as Link reported last week.
USPS also released a video about the new stamp set, one of several 2026 releases that celebrate America and its symbols in the run-up to the nation’s 250th anniversary on July 4.
“One of the reasons that the bald eagle was a very appropriate choice as a national symbol is that it is endemic to North America,” Robert Mulvihill, an ornithologist with the National Aviary, says in the video. “You can’t find it anywhere else in the world.”
Link went behind the scenes of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee in its “Primers” column; offered a roundup of reports from May 9’s Stamp Out Hunger food drive; and reported on Mailbox Improvement Week, held each year during the third week in May, when USPS urges customers to ensure their mailbox is in good shape, located in a convenient and safe location and easily accessible.
We published a customer FAQ edition of the “Mailin It!” podcast in which the hosts answer some of the questions USPS customers ask the most — from “Where’s my package?” to how mail is delivered across the country.
Link also highlighted the environmental regulations concerning washing vehicles; looked at the history of Memorial Day, which will be observed on Monday, May 25, this year; and told the story of Daniel J. Rams, a letter carrier in Cape Coral, FL, who helped a customer who had taken a hip-fracturing tumble.
Finally, we shared the news that Robert H. Raines Jr., international business vice president, is retiring May 29. Himesh Patel has been appointed to succeed him on an acting basis.
Email us your feedback. Your comments could be included in our “Mail” column.
June 2, 2026
Datebook
‘Project Management’
Postal Service employees may participate in an upcoming webinar on how to successfully and efficiently manage projects in the workplace.
The session, “Project Management,” will be held Tuesday, June 2, at 3 p.m. Eastern.
Representatives from DeVry University will lead the webinar.
Participants must register before the event on the webinar website.
Participation is voluntary. Nonexempt employees must participate off the clock or during authorized breaks.
Employees with questions can email the USPS Benefits and Wellness team.
View past printouts
Printout details
What's included
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USPS, union extend contract talks
Negotiations with NALC will continue
-
Here’s the winner of the Stamp Encore contest
-
These stamps show off items from the American Revolution
-
This stamp pays tribute to the American bison
The issue blends a modern photo with a design from 1923
-
These stamps will go around the world
The international release pays tribute to postcard-mail project
-
Heroes
He found a customer on the ground
This letter carrier assisted a man who fell and fractured his hip
-
Week in Review
Here’s what Link covered May 17-23
Bald eagle stamps and a food drive roundup made news
-
June2Datebook
‘Project Management’