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Brennan to retire

Top story

Link Extra
Brennan to retire
PMG to step down in early 2020
7 hours ago
Ready, willing and label
USPS customer printing service goes nationwide
11 hours ago
Behind the scenes
Employee’s kids gain glimpse into USPS
12 hours ago

Scanning snapshot

News Briefs

Scanning snapshot

Bottled water, blog updates also offered
The latest briefs highlight scanning, bottled water service ordering requirements and a new Postal Posts blog entry.
12 hours ago

Jeepers keepers

Jeepers keepers

USPS dedicates Spooky Silhouettes stamps
The spine-tingling fun of the Halloween season was celebrated during the Oct. 11 dedication ceremony for the Spooky Silhouettes stamps.
1 day ago

Engaging leaders

Engaging leaders

USPS seeks nominees for awards
The Postal Service is inviting employees to submit nominations for its fourth annual Engagement Leader of the Year Awards.
1 day ago

Healthy choice

Healthy choice

District opens wellness center
A Southern California postal facility is making room for employees to get healthy.
5 days ago

When to send

When to send

Holiday shipping deadlines released
USPS is offering suggested mail-by dates for the holiday mailing and shipping season.
6 days ago

New prices

Link Extra

New prices

USPS announces changes for 2020
The Postal Service has announced price changes to take effect next year.
1 week ago

Service greetings

Service greetings

Military shipping deadlines announced
The Postal Service is offering suggested mail-by dates for customers who want to send holiday letters and packages to diplomatic and military service members overseas.
1 week ago

Archives

About the Business

  • Rural reach

    Carriers help USPS deliver for all

    Oct. 15

    Rural reach

    Carriers help USPS deliver for all
    Oct. 15 at 10:22 a.m.

    Rural carriers, like all Postal Service employees, make unique contributions to the organization’s business.

    As the job title implies, rural carriers traditionally serve in rural communities, as well as suburban areas and even some urban centers. This helps USPS to fulfill its “universal service obligation” to serve all customers in the United States.

    The history of rural carriers goes back to the 1890s, when the Post Office Department established rural free delivery. Previously, residents of rural areas had to travel to the nearest Post Office to pick up their mail or pay a private carrier for delivery.

    More than a century later, the Postal Service often is the only delivery option for customers in rural areas.

    This is why rural carriers are sometimes referred to as a “Post Office on wheels.” They offer all the services performed over the counter at USPS retail sites, including selling stamps and money orders, accepting Priority Mail, and providing services such as signature and delivery confirmation.

    Rural carriers also play an important role in the “last mile” package business, which refers to parcels that enter the USPS network at local Post Offices and are then delivered to customers’ homes.

    During fiscal 2018 (Oct. 1, 2017-Sept. 30, 2018), USPS served 15.9 million rural delivery points. These points were served by the organization’s 70,800 rural carriers and 59,000 part-time rural carriers.

    Rural carriers travel about 3.7 million miles each day, and many carriers use their own vehicles to make deliveries.

    Archives

Heroes’ Corner

  • Canine crisis

    Employee rescues boy from dog attack

    Oct. 16

    Canine crisis

    Employee rescues boy from dog attack
    Oct. 16 at midnight

    Letter Carrier William Hughes Jr. was recently delivering mail in a Bozeman, MT, neighborhood when he saw a boy on a scooter who was being attacked by two dogs.

    Hughes rushed to the boy’s aid and safely repelled the animals.

    The Postal Service employee helped the boy get home, then called animal control to report the attack.

    The boy’s parents took him to an emergency room, where he was treated for multiple dog bites.

    He recovered from the incident.

    Archives

Best Practices

  • Do unto others

    Treating co-workers like customers

    Oct. 7

    Do unto others

    Treating co-workers like customers
    Oct. 7 at 9:59 a.m.

    Beverly Graham doesn’t interact with the public in her job, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have customers.

    “My customers are letter carriers and clerks,” says Graham, a mail processing clerk. “In order for them to provide great service to our customers, mail from my operation must get to them in a timely manner.”

    The Postal Service wants all employees to be like Graham, who works at the Baltimore Processing and Distribution Center.

    In other words: Whether your customers are consumers, businesses or your own co-workers, USPS wants you to treat them well.

    To help employees, the organization provides the following guidance:

    • Be efficient. If your customers can see that you’re attempting to work quickly and efficiently to assist them, it helps improve their overall perception of their experience with you.

    • Choose positivity. It’s impossible to expect that every single interaction with customers will be seamless or without friction.

    But the power is in your hands to choose positivity. When you choose to keep a positive attitude, it’s contagious and spreads to your customer.

    • Do your best. No matter what job you may hold, strive to do it well. Your customers — no matter who they are — will appreciate the effort.

    Or as Graham puts it: “I do my best to make sure the mail I process reaches [my co-workers] as soon as possible.”

    Archives

On the Job

  • Attention to details

    Field sales rep educates businesses

    Oct. 11

    Attention to details

    Field sales rep educates businesses
    Oct. 11 at 10:14 a.m.

    My name is Sharley Bell and I’m a field sales representative in Indianapolis. My job is to educate business customers about postal products and services.

    I contact potential customers to find out what their needs are in order to pair them with our products and services and to maximize their business efficiency. I research many media channels to stay abreast of the current trends and provide updated assistance to my many clients. Everyone is a potential Postal Service customer.

    Customers are overly excited once they realize they have a Postal Service representative.

    Most of the people I’ve dealt with are happy with what we offer. We have their trust; they often just don’t know what our services are. There’s a lot of education that happens because of field sales representatives.

    I have been with the Postal Service for more than 30 years. I was hired as a letter-sorting machine clerk, then I was a retail associate for 20 years and had detail assignments through many departments.

    Eventually, I was selected for a detail in sales, working on the Every Door Direct mail test program, which led to me becoming a field sales representative in 2013.

    I’m proud to say that I am from a very close-knit family. I’m an avid reader who enjoys going to an occasional concert and exploring the world through traveling. My goal is to someday visit all 50 states.

    The Postal Service is a solid organization with a very trusted brand. There is always training, education and good people to work with.

    Archives

The List

  • Art and parcel

    6 postal-inspired public art projects

    Oct. 15

    Art and parcel

    6 postal-inspired public art projects
    Oct. 15 at 10:18 a.m.

    The new mural in Washington, DC, honoring USPS retiree Roger “Buck” Hill is the latest example of a postal-themed public art project. Here are six others.

    1. “Statue of the Mail Carriers.” This Milwaukee artwork stands near the site where the National Association of Letter Carriers was formed in 1889. The artist sculpted the bronze work that depicts three letter carriers from different eras: 1889, 1939 and 1989. The statue’s inscription reads: “In honor of the men and women who have delivered for America in rain, sleet, and snow.”

    2. “Barefoot Mailman.” This bronze statue, located in Hillsboro, FL, pays homage to James “Ed” Hamilton and others who delivered mail along the “Barefoot Mailman Route,” a 68-mile trek from Palm Beach, FL, to Miami. The route, which existed in the late 1800s, took six days to complete by foot and rowboat roundtrip.

    3. John Thompson memorial. Between 1856 and 1876, John “Snowshoe” Thompson carried mail along a 90-mile route between Genoa, NV, and Placerville, CA. During the winter months, he used homemade skis carrying as much as 100 pounds of mail across treacherous snowbanks. A bronze memorial statue stands in Genoa, and depicts Thompson on his snowy route wearing his skis.

    4. Pony Express statue. The Pony Express traveled a nearly 2,000-mile route that stretched from California to Missouri, making the trip on horseback in 10 days. It operated from 1860-1861, although only the last four months was it a U.S. Mail contract route. This statue was dedicated in St. Joseph, MO, in 1940 to commemorate the service’s 80th anniversary.

    5. “Air Mail” mural. This mural, located inside the Piggott, AR, Post Office, is one of five artworks featured on the Post Office Murals stamps released this year. The “Air Mail” mural was installed in 1941 and shows mail being loaded onto an airplane to highlight the importance of airmail in connecting American communities.

    6. “Special Delivery.” Sculptor Seward Johnson creates artworks that celebrate everyday activities. One such work stands in Spring Lake, NJ, and shows a letter carrier on his delivery route dressed in a realistic postal uniform, complete with a mailbag and dog spray.

    Archives

Mailbag

  • Roger Barnes, Omaha, NE:

    Toledo OH, Retail Associate Nicole Bugaj, featured in the article “Gift of life,” demonstrates courage and selflessness in her willingness to donate a kidney to an ill 3-year-old. She’s amazing.

    Archives

Latest videos

  • ‘Tyrannosaurus Rex’ Oct. 11
  • ‘Woodstock’ Oct. 4

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