The Postal
Service invites America to share in a series of holiday-themed augmented
reality (AR) experiences that bring the nation’s 160,000 blue Post Office
collection boxes to life via smartphones. The invitation is part of a mailing
that provides information on exciting postal products, services and key mailing
dates to make this the most convenient holiday mailing season ever.
“Our Charlie
Brown Christmas Forever stamps allow you to decorate your holiday
mailings with Peanuts characters,” said U.S. Postal Service Consumer Advocate
John Budzynski. “Thanks to our new AR app, you can take a photo with the
Peanuts characters and share it on social media. Our
mailing to the nation’s households is one part of our holiday advertising
campaign that ranges from direct mail to television and print advertisements,
to social media and digital promotion.”
The Peanuts photo opportunity
debuts Nov. 23 through Nov. 25 and appears again in mid-December as part of the
Postal Service’s rotating “Mailbox Miracle” experiences that runs until
Dec. 28. Also, the 50th anniversary of the “Charlie Brown Christmas” TV
special, from which the stamps are based, airs Mon., Nov. 30 at 9 p.m. on ABC.
Prior to that, at 8 p.m., a one-hour retrospective special featuring numerous
music performers airs.
Recommended
holiday mail-by-dates can be found at this link.
The ‘Mailbox Miracle’
Experiences
Download the Postal Service’s AR app at Google
Play or iTunes App
Store. Stand next to one of nearly 160,000 blue mail collection boxes
between Nov. 23 and Nov. 25, and again Dec.14 through Dec. 17, to see Charlie
Brown characters surround Postal Service blue collection boxes to take a photo
with the Peanuts gang to save on your camera phone or share on social media. As the nation counts down to the holidays, the Postal
Service will be adding new experiences every few days.
Customers
accessing usps.com can find blue
collection boxes near their current location by visiting this link
and clicking the “Post Offices and Approved Postal Providers” icon. Scroll down
to collection boxes and then enter a ZIP Code or address.
West Palm Beach Manager, Customer Service Operations Joe Molfetto shares his "Mailbox Miracle" seasonal AR app experience.
Starting Nov. 23 through Dec. 28 these exciting “Mailbox Miracle” seasonal AR app experiences and holiday mailing tips will decorate your screens with nostalgic peppermints; toy airplanes circulating Christmas trees surrounded by boxes; customizable digital mailboxes to “TAKE A PIC AND SHARE” on social media; blinking holiday lights; wrapping paper; bows; dancing elves; and much more while sharing important information. Following are just a handful of the upcoming experiences:
·
Gingerbread Box — A Gingerbread box grows from
the edges of the collection box followed by peppermints, gumdrops and more
decorations. The experience also allows you to order stamps.
·
Tree Burst — Doors fly open and a Christmas tree
springs out of the box. A toy airplane circles the tree, decorations fly onto
it and a bunch of boxes slide under it. Click tap to order free boxes.
·
Wrap it up — Wrapping paper covers the collection
box and reminds you that the Postal Service delivers in select locations on
Christmas Day. Click tap to schedule a pickup.
·
Holiday Countdown — About a week prior to
Christmas a live countdown reminds you that there’s only a short time left to
ship packages. An icon in the experience lets you schedule a pickup.
·
Yule Log — A mantle drops on the mailbox and a
fire lights inside the fireplace. Then a puppy slides in front dressed in a
Santa costume.
Delivering for the Holidays
The Postal Service expects to deliver more than 15.5
billion cards, letters, flats, and packages during the 2015 holiday season. In
addition, it is projecting that approximately 600 million packages will be
delivered between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve — an increase of 10.5 percent
over last year’s volume.
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