Mixed messages

Taken by Marcy Earley in the Hayward, WI, Post Office lobby

Comment here

What do you see?

Today is the First-Day for the "Abstract Expressionists" stamp.

It takes a unique artist to paint abstract art...and a unique mind to understand it.  But that's the point, right?

Looking at these stamps, do you see anything in the future for the Postal Service? Comment here.

Deaf retail associate a benefit to USPS, customers

Joe Ortiz was born 46 years ago without any hearing, but that doesn’t keep him from serving customers from his retail counter in Frederick, MD.

The 25-year veteran was recently highlighted in a news story in his home town newspaper. According to the Frederick News Post, Ortiz uses signs at the counter to indicate he is deaf, but he reads lips and is able to speak clearly.

What do you think about this?

Comment here.

(Photo courtesy Frederick News Post, Nick Merrill)

Are you delaying retirement?

Benny here. I recently read an interesting report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute that showed more and more people are delaying retirement.

Since 1993, American's aged 55 or older who were in the work force has increased from 29.4 percent in 1993 to 39.4 percent today.

The study attributes higher cost of living, higher medical costs and lowered benefits as some of the reason for the delayed retirement.

The study also summarizes, "While some older Americans have a greater need to work to help make their retirement assets last longer or to continue to build up assets, monetary incentives are not the only motivating factor."

I'm one to talk...I'm still on the job after more than 230 years. But I'm interested in your story. If you are delaying your retirement, what's your primary reason?

Let me know by commenting here.

"Don't be discouraged"

By now, you've seen all the reaction to the PMG's press conference a couple of days ago. To reassure us, PMG Potter has a few reminders for us as employees. In his video message, he said this:

• Stay focused on the basics. You know what they are.
• Keep service strong.
• Help us find ways to pull costs out of the system.
• Treat customers the same way you like to be treated as a customer — that’ll keep them with us.
• Look for new ways to grow the business — no matter where you work or what you do. No one knows our customers better than you do.
• And most important of all, don’t get discouraged.

What do you think? Click here to comment.

Curb Your Wheels

This picture from 1912 shows a carrier delivering and collecting mail from a motorized cart.

This clunky cart is designed to receive mail from collection boxes. Thankfully, it never caught on. What do you think about this?  Comment here.

Courtesy, the Suncoast Scoop.

What's the buzz?

So, by now you’ve heard or read about the big news conference on Tuesday with Postmaster General Potter and other senior postal management.


Down at the Boston tavern, there’s plenty of talk of change and I’m trying to answer all the questions, and I know you are, too.
I’m wondering, what’s the buzz? What are other employees saying? What are your customers saying? Comment here and share your thoughts.

Take the poll on the upper-right corner of the blog, or click here.

I am interested in how your customers are reacting to the news:

Are they:

•Concerned about losing services

•Worried about postal employee's futures

•Confident things will work out

•Don't know how bad it really is

•Don't really care

2020 -- Will we survive?

Yesterday, the PMG and a panel of postal experts started a conversation on delivering into the future. In order to survive crushing deficits, these six action items were proposed.

• Restructure retiree health benefits prefunding to “pay-as-you-go,” comparable to what is used by the rest of the federal government and the private sector.

• Adjust delivery frequency to better reflect current mail volumes and customer habits.

• Expand access to postal products and services through self-service kiosks, partnerships with other retail outlets, and a world-class website — usps.com.

• Workforce flexibility that allows USPS to put the right people at the right place and at the right time.

• Ensure pricing of Market Dominant mailing products is based on demand for each individual product and its costs, rather than capping prices for every class at the rate of inflation.

• Expand Products and Services by allowing USPS to evaluate and introduce more new products consistent with its mission and compete more effectively in the marketplace.

What do you think of them? Not specific enough? What else should be talked about? Comment here.

For more information, see Envisioning America's Future Postal Service page by clicking here.

How many delivery days?

We've been talking about the possibility of a five-day delivery week for some time now. During today's major conference called, "Ensuring a viable Postal Service for America," PMG Jack Potter raised the spector of "Six to five, to four and even three-day delivery."

Do you think America would adapt to fewer delivery days?

Comment here.

Envisioning America's future Postal Service

The mail is a-changing.

Personal mail. Business mail. Commerce mail. Nothing's the same as it used to be. And it probably won't be the same in the future.

Tomorrow, Postmaster General Jack Potter will host a conference to address the issue of the changing volume and revenue. He will reveal some numbers and give an action plan.

What do you think he'll say?

Comment here.

Do you write letters?

"In this era of instantaneous communication, a handwritten letter is a rare and wondrous item."

So begins the mission statement of The Letter Writers Alliance, a group dedicated to preserving the "art" of letter writing.

They call it a "glorious cultural form."

There are many other groups who love mail and encourage letters -- Good Mail Day , Postcrossing, The Letter Exchange , and Viva Snail Mail, and The Missive Maven -- just to name a few.

What do you think? Do you write letters? Why or why not? Comment here. And take the poll on the upper right corner of the blog here.

Appointed rounds

The James Farley building in New York City , which served as the Main Post Office for decades, has this saying inscribed wrapped around the facade:

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"

This has been attributed -- wrongly -- as the Postal Service's official motto.

What do you think? Comment here.

From Dead Letter office to Mail Recovery Center

In the early history of the Post Office, how to handle letters that were undeliverable as addressed became a vexing problem. They couldnt just be thrown away, becuae it would damage the advertised integrity and security of the mail.

In 1825, the Postal Department designated "dead letter offices" where clerks were authorized to open mail and try to determine where it should be redirected.

By the end of the 19th century, it wasn't uncommon for dead letter offices to handle as many as 23,000 pieces of mail a day.

About 40 percent of the mysterious pieces of mail were reunited with a sender or a recipient.

Later, as more valuables were coming to the dead letter offices, some hiring preferences were put in place. Retired clergymen were hired for their honesty and more women were added as they were thought to be better an analyzing complex and complicated addresses.

Today, with the Mail Recovery Center in Atlanta, the volume is much larger and the process much more complex.

Last year, about 82 million items were processed by the MRC. Of that total, 57 percent of items were determined to be of "possible value" and were returned or forwarded.

What is your experience with the Mail Recovery Center? Did they ever find something that has surprised you?  Comment here.

Read the Smithsonian article here.

Everything from itty-bitty to a carrier city: New "Your Postal Podcast" released

The February edition of Your Postal Podcast features two stories from Florida: Tour the tiniest Post Office in the country and then learn about a town whose population is made up entirely of former letter carriers and their families.

You’ll also hear from the editor of a newspaper devoted to stamp collecting and get a summary of the latest national Postal news.

You don't need an iPod or MP3 player to listen, you can listen right from your computer at work or home. Just go to http://www.yourpostalpodcast.com/.
Like all previous editions, YPP #21 can be downloaded free from the iTunes store or through any other RSS feeder. Click here to listen or for a transcript, click here.

Missile Mail

You know about Air Mail. Did you know that at one point we toyed with the idea of "Missile Mail?"

The idea of firing rockets loaded with mail started in the 1930s by missile enthusiasts who were looking for practical uses for their devices. In fact, the first successful rocket flight in the U.S. was made in 1935 and contained a "a live cock, a hen, and 189 messages in envelopes.

An idea was spawned. Could mail be delivered around the world using guided missiles?

On June 8, 1959, a Navy submarine fired a missile to reach the Naval Auxiliary Station in Mayport, Florida. The missile carried 3,000 letters.

The idea never caught on. But maybe there are other ideas out there. How do you think we should deliver mail in the future? Comment here.

"It's in the mail"

Lord, thank you for the workers of the Postal Service and forgive us for excusing ourselves at their expense when we said it was ‘in the mail’ and we knew it was not.”

— Brother Carlton Puryear, during the Hodgenville, KY, Post Office renaming ceremony

What do you think? Have you ever used the excuse, "it's in the mail?" Comment here.

Should living persons get a stamp?

Benny here. The Smithsonian magazine has an interesting article, suggesting that the Postal Service issue stamps that commemorate living subjects.

Currently, the only way to get a stamp is to be ... um, no longer here for at least five years.

That's why it took a few years for me to get my own stamp! But I got mine before Alexander Hamilton, so that's the most important thing.

There's an exception -- Presidents get a stamp right after their death.

Other countries waste no time getting living subjects on stamps. Designer Ralph Lauren has his own stamp in Jamaica. Grenada has a stamp with Cleveland Cavaliers star Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

Australia has no problem with living persons. Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman all have their own stamps in the “Australian Legends” series.

The Smithsonian magazine believes that issuing these kinds of stamps would increase sales to collectors worldwide.

What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea?
What living person do you think should get their own stamp?

Comment here.

Then and Now: What has changed from 1971?

An interesting quote from Jack Potter, where he spoke to the National PCC

“The law that birthed the modern Post Office 39 years ago didn’t come with all of the restrictions that are making it so hard to succeed today.
That law didn’t tell us what products we could and couldn’t offer.
That law didn’t tell us how much we could and couldn't charge, without reference to our universal service obligation.
That law didn't tell us that mail had to be delivered on six days rather than five.
That law didn't tell us we had to retain unnessary retail outlets.
That we had to divert billions of today’s operating dollars to fund benefits that may not be payable for another 10,25, 50 or 70 years.
Each of these limitations grew from other laws that modified our original operating charter.”

What do you think? Comment here.

"Snail Mail" -- Having fun

Photo courtesy of Missive Maven

Our poll is still active!  Go to the upper-right corner of Your Postal Blog and  tell us what you think about the expression, "Snail Mail."

Got a comment. Click here.

Will you be mine?

Benny here.

Valentine's Day is a pretty important day around the Franklin home. It's a day when I get to really dote on Mrs. Franklin, bringing her flowers and chocolate. She also loves Valentine's Day cards.  Last year, I made a "tactical error" when I sent her an electronic-card.

I never heard the end of that. Big mistake. Boys, don't do what I did!

And in case you didn't know it, the mail has had a big hand in shaping Valentine's Day. Here's a short history:

In the 1600s, Europeans were composing verses for their sweethearts. English verse writers immigrated to the U.S. and helped spark a valentine greeting rage. They came up with a collection of romantic verses and messages that could be copied onto fancy paper.

Esther Howland created the first commercially-made valentines in America. She didn't care for the English prose, so she created her own and sold about $100,000 a year in valentine cards.

Romantic greetings eventually became an art form, adorned with lace, silk, feathers and flowers.  Some were even perfumed.

Penny posts became the popular valentine from 1890 to 1917. Around that time, the Postal Service implemented these penny greetings, making it affordable to mail cards. 

Today, Valentine's Day is the second biggest day for exchanging cards.  Got a comment? Click here.