History

Running pony logo used before 1970 before the "Department" became a "service".

The postal service was created in Philadelphia under Benjamin Franklin on July 26, 1775 by decree of the Second Continental Congress. Based on a clause in the United States Constitution empowering Congress "To establish post offices and post roads," it became the Post Office Department in 1792. It was part of the Presidential cabinet and the postmaster general was the last person in the United States presidential line of succession. In 1971, the department was reorganized as a quasi-independent agency of the federal government and acquired its present name. The postmaster general is no longer in the presidential line of succession.

The USPS is the third-largest employer in the United States (after the United States Department of Defense and Wal-Mart) and operates the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world, with an estimated 260,000 vehicles, the majority of which are the easily identified Grumman LLV "mail truck", as shown in the pictures below. Some mail carriers use personal vehicles. Standard postal service vehicles do not have license plates; instead, a truck is identified by blue numbers on its back.

Competition from e-mail and private operations such as United Parcel Service, FedEx, and DHL has forced USPS to adjust its business strategy and to modernize its products and services.

The Department of Defense and the USPS jointly operate a postal system to deliver mail for the military; this is known as the Army Post Office (for Army and Air Force postal facilities) and Fleet Post Office (for Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard postal facilities).

From 1837 to 1970, the Postal Service used a running pony as its logo; that logo was replaced by an eagle. In the 1990s, the eagle was redesigned again so that it was just the head.

Governance and organization

Full eagle logo from 1970 to the 1990s

The Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service sets policy, procedure, and postal rates for services rendered, and has a similar role to a corporate board of directors. Of the eleven members of the Board, nine are appointed by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate (see 39 U.S.C. § 202). The nine appointed members then select the United States Postmaster General, who serves as the board's tenth member, and who oversees the day to day activities of the service as Chief Executive Officer (see 39 U.S.C. § 202 and 39 U.S.C. § 203). The ten-member board then nominates a Deputy Postmaster General, who acts as Chief Operating Officer, to the eleventh and last remaining open seat.

The USPS is often mistaken for a government-owned corporation (e.g. Amtrak), but as noted above is legally defined as an "independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States,"[CITE?] as it is wholly owned by the government and controlled by the Presidential appointees and the Postmaster General. As a quasi-governmental agency, it has many special privileges, including sovereign immunity, eminent domain powers, powers to negotiate postal treaties with foreign nations, and an exclusive legal right to deliver first-class and third-class mail.

Statutes and Duties

The USPS is entitled to First Class Mail and Standard Mail (formerly called third-class mail) rights as described in the Private Express Statutes. These statutes were enacted by Congress "to provide for an economically sound postal system that could afford to deliver letters between any two locations, however remote."[CITE?]

The USPS is required to place a recipients mail into standardized mailboxes marked "U.S. Mail." This requirement allows U.S. Postal Inspectors investigation authority into mail box theft and fraud on a national level, without relying on local law enforcement to report such acts, or burden local law enforcement with investigative resources (as an aside, this is the main reason that vandalizing U.S. mail boxes i.e. mail box baseball is considered a federal crime).

The 39 cents required by the USPS to deliver a letter in the U.S. compares favorably with many other industrialized countries, such as those of the European Union, where the postage for an ordinary domestic first-class letter is nearly twice that much. As a quasi-government agency the USPS provides full and direct investigation services through the U.S. Postal Inspection Service into mail related crime, privacy, and consumer protection. The United States Postal Service is accountable to public regulators, requires full disclosure of income, expenditures, and ethical accountabilities.

As an affiliate of the federal government, the USPS is not required to pay any of the federal or state income taxes that regular businesses pay. Since the USPS is also directed by law to break even in the long run, there is currently not much tax revenue lost due to this tax exemption. However there is a possibility that a private alternative to the USPS monopoly on normal letter delivery could provide better service at a lower cost, as well as be profitable and net tax contributors. (Private competitors in package delivery have become profitable even with the tax burden placed on them and now dominate the market.) [1] Therefore, some critics view the current tax exemption as a subsidy provided by the government to the USPS.

Types of postal facilities

Although its customer service centers are called post offices in regular speech, the USPS recognizes several types of postal facilities, including the following:

• A main post office (formerly known as a general post office), which is the primary postal facility in a community.
• A station or post office station, a postal facility that is not the main post office, but that is within the corporate limits of the community.
• A branch or post office branch, a postal facility that is not the main post office and that is outside the corporate limits of the community.
• A classified unit, a station or branch operated by USPS employees in a facility owned or leased by the USPS.
• A contract postal unit (or CPU), a station or branch operated by a contractor, typically in a store or other place of business.
• A community post office (or CPO), a contract postal unit providing services in a small community in which other types of post office facilities have been discontinued.
• A finance unit, a station or branch that provides window services and accepts mail, but does not provide delivery.
• A processing and distribution center (P&DC, or processing and distribution facility, formerly known as a General Mail Facility), a central mail facility that processes and dispatches incoming and outgoing mail to and from a designated service area.
• A sectional center facility (SCF), a P&DC for a designated geographical area defined by one or more three-digit ZIP code prefixes.
• A bulk mail center (BMC), a central mail facility that processes bulk rate parcels as the hub in a hub and spoke network.
• An auxiliary sorting facility (ASF), a central mail facility that processes bulk rate parcels as spokes in a hub and spoke network.

Evolutionary Network Development (END) program

In February, 2006, the USPS announced that they plan to replace the nine existing facility-types with five processing facility-types:

• Regional Distribution Centers (RDCs), which will process all classes of parcels and bundles and serve as Surface Transfer Centers;
• Local Processing Centers (LPCs), which will process single-piece letters and flats and cancel mail;
• Destination Processing Centers (DPC), which will process single-piece letters and flats;
• Airport Transfer Centers (ATCs), which will serve as transfer points only; and
• Remote Encoding Centers (RECs).

Over a period of years, these facilities are expected to replace Processing & Distribution Centers, Customer Service Facilities, Bulk Mail Centers, Logistic and Distribution Centers, annexes, the Hub and Spoke Program, Air Mail Centers, Remote Encoding Centers, and International Service Centers.

The changes are a result of the declining volumes of single-piece first-class mail, population shifts, the increase in drop shipments by advertising mailers at destinating postal facilities, advancements in equipment and technology, redundancies in the existing network, and the need for operational flexibility

While common usage refers to all types of postal facilities as "substations," the USPS Glossary of Postal Terms does not define or even list that word.

Temporary stations are often set up for applying pictorial cancellations.

Addressing envelopes

For any letter addressed within the United States, the USPS requires two pieces of information on the envelope.

1. Address of the recipient: Placed on the front (non opening) side of the envelope in the center. Generally, the name of the addressee should be included above the address itself. Additionally, a ZIP+4 code is not necessary.
2. Postage indication: All parcels must include an indication that postage has been paid. In most cases, this is a stamp, though metered labels are also common. Members of the U.S. Congress, among others, have franking privileges, which only require a signature.
   • First-class mail costs 39¢ upwards, depending on the weight and dimensions of the letter and the class, and the indicia is supposed to be placed in the upper-right corner.

A third, and optional (but strongly suggested) addition is a return address. This is the address you wish the recipient to respond to, and, if necessary, the letter to be returned to if delivery fails. It is usually placed in the upper-left corner or occasionally on the back (though the latter is standard in some countries). Undeliverable mails that cannot be readily returned, including those without return addresses, are treated as dead mails at a Mail Recovery Center in Atlanta, Georgia or Saint Paul, Minnesota.

The formatting of the address is as follows

Line 1: Name of recipient

Line 2: Street address or P.O. Box

Line 3: City State (ISO 3166-2:US code or APO/FPO code) and ZIP+4 code

Example

MR JOHN DOE

1111 JOHNSON ST

NEW YORK NY  10036-4658

The USPS maintains a list of proper abbreviations.

The formatting of a return address is identical. A common myth is that a comma is required after the city name, but this is not true. (Some style manuals do recommend using the comma when typesetting addresses in other contexts, however.) The Post Office recommends use of all upper case block letters using the appropriate formats and abbreviations and leaving out all punctuation except for the hyphen in the ZIP+4 code to ease automated address reading and speed processing, particularly for handwritten addresses; if the address is unusually formatted or illegible enough, it will require hand-processing, delaying that particular item. The USPS publishes the entirety of their postal addressing standards.

Mail sorting

Processing of standard sized envelopes and cards is highly automated, including reading of handwritten addresses. Mail from individual customers and public postboxes is collected by mail carriers into plastic tubs. The tubs are taken to a Processing and Distribution Center and emptied into hampers which are then automatically dumped into a Dual Pass Rough Cull System (DPRCS). As mail travels through the DPRCS, large items, such as packages and mail bundles, are removed from the stream. As the remaining mail enters the first machine for processing standard mail, the Advanced Facer-Canceler System (AFCS), pieces that passed through the DPRCS but do not conform to physical dimensions for processing in the AFCS (i.e. large envelopes or overstuffed standard envelopes) are automatically diverted from the stream. Mail removed from the DPRCS and AFCS is manually processed or sent to parcel sorting machines.

In contrast to the previous system, which merely canceled and postmarked the upper right corner of the envelope, thereby missing any stamps which were inappropriately placed, the AFCS locates indicia (stamp or metered postage mark), regardless of the orientation of the mail as it enters the machine, and cancels it by applying a postmark. Detection of indicia enables the AFCS to determine the orientation of each mailpiece and sort it accordingly, rotating pieces as necessary so all mail is sorted right-side up and faced in the same direction in each output bin. Mail is output by the machine into three categories: mail already bar-coded and addressed (such as business reply envelopes and cards), mail with machine printed (typed) addresses, and mail with handwritten addresses. Additionally, machines with a recent Optical Character Recognition (OCR) upgrade have the capability to read the address information, including handwritten, and sort the mail based on local or outgoing ZIP codes.

Mail with typed addresses goes to a Multiline Optical Character Reader (MLOCR) which reads the ZIP Code and address information and prints the appropriate bar code onto the envelope. Mail (actually the scanned image of the mail) with handwritten addresses (and machine-printed ones that aren't easily recognized) goes to the Remote Bar Coding System, a highly advanced scanning system with a state of the art neural net processor which is highly effective at correctly reading almost all addresses, no matter how poorly written [2]. It also corrects spelling errors and, where there is an error, omission, or conflict in the written address, identifies the most likely correct address. When it has decided on a correct address, it prints the appropriate bar code onto the envelopes, similarly to the MLOCR system. RBCS also has facilities in place, called Remote Encoding Centers, that have humans look at images of mail pieces and enter the address data. The address data is associated with the image via an ID Tag, a fluorescent code printed by mail processing equipment on the back of mail pieces.

Mail with addresses which cannot be resolved by the automated system are separated for human intervention. If a local postal worker can read the address, the appropriate bar code is printed onto the item. If not, mail is either returned to the sender (first class mail with a valid return address) or is sent to one of three Mail Recovery Centers in the United States (formerly known as Dead Letter Offices, originated by Benjamin Franklin in the 1770s) where it receives more intense scrutiny, including being opened to determine if any of the contents are a clue. If no valid address can be determined, the items are held for 90 days in case of inquiry by the customer; and if they are not claimed then they are destroyed.

Once the mail is bar coded, it is automatically sorted into destination postal stations. Items for local delivery are retained in the postal station while other items are trucked to either the appropriate station if it is within approximately 200 miles, or the airport for transport to more distant destinations. Mail is flown, usually as baggage on commercial airlines, to the airport nearest the destination station, then at a nearby processing center the mail is once again read by a Delivery Bar Code System which sorts the items into their local destinations, including grouping them by individual mail carrier. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, only letter-sized mail has been flown on passenger airlines. Packages are solely transported via cargo carriers, most notably FedEx.

Major products and services

USPS contractor-driven semi-trailer seen near Mendota, California

USPS Flexible Fuel Vehicles parked at the post office in Conneaut, Ohio

USPS service delivery truck in a residential area of San Francisco, California

A Long Life Vehicle or LLV used in suburban areas, seen in Carson City, Nevada

The U.S. Postal Service has announced changes to the classes of domestic mail and select postage rate increases effective July 1, 1996. Rates for single-piece first-class, single-piece Standard Mail (formerly third- and fourth-class), and international mail classes did not change. The following general description of each new mail class and the enclosed rate scales are provided for your information in determining postage costs for all mailings made on or after July 1, 1996.

First-class mail has been retained. However, it was restructured into two new mail subclasses: Automation and Nonautomation.

• The Automation mail subclass must be 100-percent delivery point barcoded and certified every 6 months for addressing and presort accuracy.
• The Nonautomation mail subclass is the same as the previous first-class. However, bulk mailers are now required to certify the accuracy of the 5-digit ZIP Codes at least once a year, and the customer address mail list must be updated at least every 6 months.

Second-class mail was renamed Periodicals. In general, mailing requirements remained unchanged, except that there are more stringent requirements to qualify for the automation rates. If the mail piece does not qualify for automation rates, the mailer must use the more expensive nonautomation rates for respective sorting levels. Mailers must change the second-class endorsement to Periodicals by July 1, 1996, in order to comply with reform requirements.

Third- and fourth-class mail was restructured into Standard Mail (A) and Standard Mail (B):

Standard Mail (A) consists of three new mail subclasses: Automation, Enhanced Carrier Route, and Regular. The minimum bulk mailing requirement of 200 addressed pieces or 50 pounds of addressed pieces remains the same as under previous third-class mail rules, but now requires mail list certification.

• The Automation mail subclass must be 100 percent delivery point barcoded (11 digits) for letters. The ZIP+4 barcode is acceptable for flats. The carrier routes and coding accuracy for barcoded addresses must be certified quarterly and semi-annually, respectively.
• The Enhanced Carrier Route mail subclass requires that the basic carrier route be in a line of travel sequence and that the high density and saturation rate mail be in walk sequence to qualify for the respective rates.
• The Regular mail subclass must be certified annually for 5-digit ZIP Code accuracy.

Standard Mail (B) consists of the following mail subclasses: Parcel Post, Bound Printed Matter, Special Standard Mail, Library Mail, and Nonprofit. The latter two subclasses are not authorized for Government use. The mailing requirements for this mail class remain unchanged from fourth-class mail. However, the mail piece must bear the sender's return address, and the delivery address must include the correct ZIP Code. Special fourth-class mail was renamed Special Standard Mail, and the basic requirements for its use remain the same. [3]

First Class Mail

The normal mail service used by individuals and business sending a small amount of mail, with one rate regardless of distance.

(Rates Current as of July 2006.)

• Letters: The cost to send a letter weighing up to 1 ounce (28 grams) is currently 39 cents.
• Each additional ounce is an additional 24 cents, up to 13 ounces (369 g).
• Sending a postcard costs 24 cents.
• Packages weighing up to 13 ounces (369 g) can be sent.
• Best effort delivery including return service for undeliverable mail.
• Forwarding service: With a valid change of address on file, mail coming to the old address will be sent to the new address for up to 12 months.
• Available to anyone.
• Recommendations (but no enforced rules) about mailpiece quality and addressing.
• Mail is picked up at customer's house or place of business, or can be dropped in any public mail collection box.
• Delivery to every address in the United States, except some small towns with no delivery to addresses within a quarter mile (400 m) of the post office. Post offices in some rural small towns without street deliveries require post office box numbers, and addressees in these towns are eligible for fee-free post office boxes.

Nonmachinable Surcharge:

An additional $0.13 is required for items weighing 1 ounce or less with any of the following criteria:

• Square letters.
• The height exceeds 6-1/8 inches, or length exceeds 11-1/2 inches, or thickness exceeds 1/4 inch.
• The length divided by height is less than 1.3 or more than 2.5 (length is the dimension parallel to the address).
• It has clasps, strings, buttons, or similar closure devices.
• It is too rigid or contains items such as pens that cause the thickness of the mailpiece to be uneven.
• It has an address parallel to the shorter dimension of the mailpiece.

Standard Mail

Used mainly for businesses.

• Minimum 200 pieces per mailing
• Must weigh less than 1 lb (454 g)
• No return service unless requested (an additional fee is charged for return service)
• Not for personal correspondence, letters, bills, or statements
• Annual fee

Bulk Mail

Used for businesses to send large quantities of mail.

• Can be First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail, or Parcel Post
• Discounted rates
• Annual fee required (For each mail class used)
• Enforced rules about mailpiece quality, address format, and address quality.
• May require additional work by the sender, such as certified address matching and pre-sorting by ZIP Code or walk sequence.
• Mail must usually be brought to a Bulk Mail Entry Unit post office.

Parcel Post

Used to send packages weighing up to 70 pounds (31.75 kg)

• Rates based on distance, weight, and shape
• Delivery to every address in the United States

Media Mail

Formerly (and colloquially, still) known as "Book Rate," Media Mail is used to send books, printed materials, sound recordings, videotapes, CD-ROMs, diskettes, and similar, but cannot contain advertising. Maximum weight is 70 pounds (31.75 kg).

• Delivery standards are 5-9 business days
• Rates based on weight
• Much cheaper than Parcel Post, but sometimes slower
• Postage can be paid using any method except precanceled stamps

Library Mail

Same as Media Mail, but receives an additional discount and may be used only for books or recordings being sent to or from a public library, museum or academic institution.

Priority Mail

Priority Mail is an expedited mail service with a few additional features.

• Average delivery time is 2-3 days (but this not guaranteed, may take longer)
• Flat rate envelopes and boxes available (one rate for whatever you put in the envelope, though the envelope's seal must be the primary method of enclosure) [4]
• Packages up to 70 pounds (31.75 kg).
• Label can be printed online
• Delivery to every address in the United States

Registered Mail

According to the USPS's Domestic Mail Manual, Registered Mail is "the most secure service that the USPS offers"[5] and is used to send (often in combination with insurance) high-value items such as jewelry or coins, sensitive or irreplaceable paperwork, and DoD classified information up to the SECRET level.[6] Items sent via Registered mail are tracked via a system of receipts as they move through the mail system, and they can be tracked electronically by the sender via phone or through the USPS's web site.

• Delivery time is about the same or longer than First Class, and is not guaranteed
• Parcels or letters must meet the mailing standards for First Class mail, including minimum size
• Must be presented to a clerk in person at a Post Office, cannot be put into an on-street box or rural pickup box
• Cannot be Business Reply Mail

Express Mail

Express Mail is the fastest mail service.

• Typically overnight or second-day delivery
• Flat rate envelope available
• Packages up to 50 pounds (22.7 kg)
• Delivery to most addresses in the United States
• Guaranteed on-time delivery or the postage is refunded subject to conditions

Postal money orders

• Provide a safe alternative to sending cash through the mail
• Money orders are cashable only by the recipient, just like a bank check. One of the reasons for the growing popularity of money orders is that, unlike a personal bank check, they are pre-paid and therefore cannot bounce.

Global services

Airmail, Global Priority, Global Express, and Global Express Guaranteed Mail are offered to ship mail and packages to almost every country and territory on the globe. Ironically, much of this service is provided by FedEx. [7]

Airline and rail division

The United States Postal Service does not directly own or operate any aircraft or trains. The mail and packages are flown on airlines with which they have a contractual agreement. The contracts change periodically. Depending on the contract, you may see aircraft painted with the USPS paint scheme. Contract airlines have included: Emery Worldwide, Ryan International, FedEx, Rhoades Aviation, and Express 1 International. The Postal Service also contracts with Amtrak to carry some mail between certain cities such as Chicago, Illinois and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Add-on services

The Postal Service offers additional services for some types of mail.

Delivery confirmation

• Confirms delivery of package
• Detailed package tracking is not included, but information is sometimes available
• Results available online or by telephone
• Only available with First Class Mail parcels, Priority Mail, and Package Services (Media Mail, Parcel Post, and Bound Printed Matter)
• Included free with Priority Mail labels printed online

Signature confirmation

• Confirms delivery with signature
• Recipient's signature is kept on file
• Only available with First Class Mail parcels, Priority Mail, and Package Services (Media Mail, Parcel Post, and Bound Printed Matter)

Insurance

• Provides package with insurance from loss or damage while in transit
• Available for amounts up to $5,000
• Covers material losses only minus depreciation

Certified Mail

• Provides proof of mailing, and a delivery record
• Available for First Class Mail and Priority Mail
• Available for sending U.S. Government classified information, up to the CONFIDENTIAL level.

Collect On Delivery (C.O.D.)

• Allows merchants to offer customers an option to pay upon delivery
• Insurance comes included with fee
• Amount to be collected cannot exceed $1,000
• Available for First-Class Mail, Express Mail, Priority Mail, and Package Services (Parcel Post, Bound Printed Matter, and Media Mail).

Air Mail and Pony Express trademarks

Postal Service's trademarked Pony Express logo.

In 2006 the Postal Service registered its first trademarks -- Pony Express and Air Mail.

Postage stamps

All unused U.S. postage stamps issued since 1861 are still valid as postage at their indicated value. Stamps with no value shown or denominated by a letter are also still valid at their purchase price.

Copyright and reproduction

All U.S. postage stamps and other postage items that were released before 1978 are in the public domain. After this time they are copyright by the postal service under Title 17 of the United States Code. Written permission is required for use of copyrighted postage stamp images. [8]

PC postage

In addition to using standard stamps, postage can now be printed from a personal computer using a system called Information Based Indicia. Authorized providers of PC Postage are:

• Stamps.com
• Pitney Bowes
• Endicia Internet Postage

Customized Postage

The text on the back of this stamp reads: "Our customers include 54 millions urban and 12 million rural families, plus 9 million businesses."

Customers can also use their own pictures or images to print their very own customized postage products using one of the three authorized vendors listed below. Customized postage is valid U.S. postage and can be used just like a stamp. Customized postage can be ordered in all first-class rates, as well as in the Priority Mail rate.

• Zazzle.com
• CafePress.com
• Endicia.com
• Stamps.com

Affiliation with Online Postage Providers

In addition to the USPS Click-and-Ship service, the USPS has partnered with other companies such as Paypal to offer postage label printing with the services the site has to offer. In Paypal's case, those selling items on eBay can print postage on Paypal and have the costs deducted from their Paypal account. The seller may then drop off the parcel at a location accepting parcels or request pick-up at the address of origin.

Sponsorships

Beginning in 1996, the USPS was head sponsor of a professional cycling team bearing its name. The team featured Lance Armstrong, seven-time winner of the Tour de France. The sponsorship ended in 2004, when the Discovery Channel stepped in as the main sponsor and renamed the team as the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team.

Employment in the USPS

The USPS employs more people than any company in the United States except Wal-Mart. It employed 790,000 personnel in 2003, divided into offices, processing centers, and actual post offices. USPS employees are divided into three major categories according to the work they engage in:

• Letter Carriers, also referred to as mailmen or mail-carriers; are the public face of the USPS.
• Mail handlers and processors often work in the evening and night to prepare mail and bulk goods for the carriers to deliver. Work is physically strenuous, especially for mail handlers; many mailbags loaded from and onto trucks weigh as much as 60 pounds (27 kg).
• Clerks work in the post offices, handling customers' needs, receiving express mail, and selling stamps.
• DCOs (Data Conversion Operators), who type out address information and forward mail to their destinations.

Though USPS employs many individuals, as more Americans send information via electronic mail, fewer postal workers are needed to deliver dwindling amounts of mail. Thus, postal hiring has been criticized as sporadic and competition for new positions can be intense.

Public reputation

As violent

In the early 1990s, there was a widely publicized wave of workplace shootings by disgruntled employees at USPS facilities, which led to a postal regulation that prohibits the possession of firearms in all postal facilities. Due to media coverage, postal employees gained a mostly undeserved reputation among the general public as being mentally ill. This stereotype in turn has influenced American culture, as seen in the slang term "going postal" (see Patrick Sherrill for information on his August 20, 1986, rampage) and the computer game Postal. Also, in the famous opening sequence of The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, a yell of "Disgruntled postal workers" is heard, followed by the arrival of postal workers with machine guns. In an episode of Seinfeld, the character Newman, who is a mailman, explained in a dramatic monologue that postal workers "go crazy and kill everyone" because the mail never stops.

The Setting the Record Straight section of USPS.com features letters to newspaper editors, television producers, and other media representatives which USPS has sent in response to criticism of the Postal Service and to uses of the term "going postal."

As dedicated

The famous verse from Herodotus, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds," is often quoted as the official motto of the USPS.

The postman in the animated television program Garfield and Friends is so dedicated to delivering mail past Garfield's elaborate traps that he attempts to deliver the mail in a tank. He professes a simple love of being greeted as he delivers the mail.

In the animated television program, Rocko's Modern Life, Heffer gets a job as a mailcarrier. When Rocko wants to prevent an embarrassing love letter from being delivered, Heffer replies that it's not possible and delivers a monologue explaining how the postal service works and why Heffer can't give back the letter.

On the popular television show Cheers, Cliff Clavin has portrayed himself as a dedicated postal worker on many occasions.

In Lucifer's Hammer a dedicated postal worker goes about his rounds even though a comet has just hit the earth.

As lazy

The fact that the post office enjoys a government-enforced monopoly on letter delivery is a source of resentment by some who would rather see competition, believing that it would cause lower prices.

The popular character of Newman on the sitcom Seinfeld is shown as the archetypal lazy postman. He takes days off because of poor weather and enjoys crushing mail that won't initially fit into a mailbox.

In one episode of Seinfeld, Jerry is caught delivering mail for Newman because it was found that 80% of the mail was delivered correctly. According to Newman, correctly delivering even 50% of the mail is considered the "4-minute mile" for postal workers.

See also

• United States postal abbreviations
• History of USPS rates
• Rural delivery service
• United States Postal Service creed
• Government monopoly
• United States Postal Inspection Service
• Postage stamps and postal history of the United States of America
• List of available US stamp denominations
• Military mail

Unions of the U.S. Postal Service

• American Postal Workers Union
• National Association of Letter Carriers
• National Postal Mail Handlers Union
• National Rural Letter Carriers Association

Gallery of USPS post offices

Post office and town hall in Lockhart, Alabama	The Post office operated by the USPS in Cupertino, California	The Post office operated by the USPS in Yountville, California	The Post Office operated by the USPS in Omaha, Nebraska
The Post Office operated by the USPS in Wainscott, New York	The Post Office operated by the USPS in Conneaut, Ohio	The Post Office operated by the USPS in Eastlake, Ohio	The Post Office operated by the USPS in Troy, Ohio

Gallery of USPS mailboxes

U.S. Post Box in front of the Post Office in Conneaut, Ohio

Mailboxes configured for drive-through access in Los Altos, California