Patriotic Posts from 'The List'

Corporal Federico Jarrett (right), an Army Reserve mail clerk, helps Spc. Jesse Dzon (left), an infantryman, mail a package at a base near Amman, Jordan, last year.

 
To mark Veterans Day this week, “The List” offers five military-themed Postal Service facts.

1. USPS is one of the nation’s largest civilian employers of veterans. More than 100,000 veterans currently serve in all levels of the organization.

2. The Military Postal Service Agency delivers everywhere. The agency, an extension of USPS, provides postal services to military personnel and their families in 110 countries, 952 ZIP Codes and more than 1.2 million delivery points around the world.

3. Many stamps have been issued to honor the military. Examples include current offerings like Honoring Extraordinary Heroism: The Service Cross Medals, as well as past releases like the 1970 American Prisoner of War and 1985 World War I Veterans stamps.

4. Veterans in the Postal Service have their own newsletter. Mail Call, a quarterly publication, was introduced last year. Each issue features news, interviews and more.

5. Link honors veterans, too. We regularly highlight employees who have served in the military, including our recent profiles of Rudy and Lori Guillen, married letter carriers in Des Moines, IA; Todd Farnham, a Boise, ID, electronics technician; Lenard Hostetler, a Wichita, KS, mail handler; Gene Herrington, a Hartford, CT, mail processing clerk; and Nestor Duran, an Albuquerque, NM, letter carrier.

Got ideas for future editions of “The list”? Email them to uspslink@usps.gov.

Source: LINK

Holiday Peak Projections

Rasheed Trotty, a letter carrier a Schuylkill Station in Philadelphia, PA, scans parcels during last year’s holiday season.

Like the Postal Service, UPS and FedEx are also expecting seasonal shipping increases.

Package deliveries in the United States are projected to surge as online sales jump 18-21 percent from last year, according to one estimate.

USPS expects to deliver 850 million packages between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, up more than 10 percent from last year.

Meanwhile, UPS predicts it will deliver more than 750 million packages globally between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, up 5 percent from the same time last year.

FedEx predicted this week it will deliver 380 million-400 million packages between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The company didn’t offer a projected year-to-year percentage increase.

To accommodate this year’s seasonal spike, the Postal Service is offering Sunday deliveries in select cities and touting new offerings like Informed Delivery, a free feature that allows users to view incoming mail, track packages and schedule deliveries.

Source: LINK 

Sears Holiday Wish Book Returns

Sears will mail a 120-page Wish book to select customers this holiday season.

Sears is turning to the mail to boost its holiday sales.

The department store chain is reviving its Wish Book, the iconic publication that was a holiday staple for millions of families for almost 80 years.

Select customers will receive a 120-page Wish Book — last printed in 2011 — in their mailboxes this year. The catalog will feature hundreds of gift options, including appliances, housewares, clothing and toys.

“Our members told us they missed the Wish Book, so we had to bring it back, but in a special way that lets you share more joy wherever you are,” said Kelly Cook, Sears’ chief marketing officer.

The catalog will also be available in stores, while a digital version is available for tablets, laptops and smartphones.

The Sears Wish Book debuted in 1933 with an 88-page edition that showcased a Miss Pigtails doll, a Mickey Mouse watch, Lionel electric trains and live singing canaries, among other products.

The Wish Book helped revolutionize catalog shopping with offerings that even included mail order homes.

Despite the popularity of online shopping, many consumers continue to make purchases through catalogs.

Approximately 9.8 billion catalogs were mailed last year, according to the Data and Marketing Association, while USPS research shows 42 percent of households read catalogs.

“When you have that physical catalog, customers might ponder it longer, even write notes on it,” marketing executive David Naumann recently told RetailDIVE, an industry news site. “It’s something you really can’t replicate in other media.”

Source: LINK

Palms West Branch SSA Retires

Palms West Branch Retail Associate Cynthia Langdon (third from right) has retired from the Postal Service. Langdon stated that she enjoyed her 33 years of service and is looking forward to enjoying her retirement. Langdon’s husband, William Langdon (second from left), is a Mail Processing Clerk at the Palms West Branch and plans to continue his postal career. Also pictured are West Palm Beach Manager, Customer Service Operations Andrew Moir (far left) and West Palm Beach Postmaster Robert Weiser (far right).

 

Photo: West Palm Beach Customer Relations Coordinator Curlita Rogers-Saunders

Developing New Delivery Vehicles

USPS is continuing its process to develop new delivery vehicles.

The Postal Service has started the next phase of its Next Generation Delivery Vehicles initiative.

The initiative is a multi-phased approach to develop vehicles that will incorporate new technologies to accommodate a diversifying mail mix, improve safety and service, reduce emissions and produce operational savings.

Last year, USPS awarded supplier contracts to produce prototype vehicles.
Delivery of these prototypes began in September.

“Real world” testing of the vehicles is occurring in various locations across the nation and will continue for the next several months.

“This testing will allow the Postal Service the opportunity to make an informed and educated decision of the future of our vehicle fleet based on carrier feedback and observations,” USPS said in a statement.

Source: LINK

Military Shipping Deadlines

The holiday season is the most wonderful time of the year, but many people miss loved ones who are stationed overseas as military or diplomatic members. While the holidays are a hard time to be away from home, the U.S. Postal Service makes it a priority that those serving their country will receive their presents, care packages and cards in time for the holidays — no matter where they may be.  

To send packages to loved ones serving in the military and diplomatic posts abroad, the Postal Service offers a discounted price of $17.35 on its largest Priority Mail Flat Rate Box. The price includes a $1.50 per box discount for mail sent to APO/FPO/DPO (Air/Army Post Office/Fleet Post Office/Diplomatic Post Office) destinations worldwide.

Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes are available at no cost at local Post Offices and online at shop.usps.com. Postage, labels and customs forms can be printed online anytime using Click-N-Ship at usps.com/ship. 

To ensure timely delivery of holiday wishes by Dec. 25, the Postal Service recommends that cards and packages be sent to military APO/FPO/DPO addresses overseas no later than the mailing dates listed below.

Military Mail Addressed  To and From	Priority Mail Express Military Service (PMEMS)1	First-Class Mail Letters and Cards	Priority Mail	Parcel Airlift     Mail    (PAL)2	Space Available Mail      (SAM)3	Retail Ground
APO/FPO/DPO AE ZIPs 090-092	Dec. 16	Dec. 11	Dec. 11	Dec. 4	Nov. 27	Nov. 6
APO/FPO/DPO AE ZIP   093	N/A	Dec. 4	Dec. 4	Dec. 4	Nov. 27	Nov. 6
APO/FPO/DPO AE ZIPs 094-098	Dec. 16	Dec. 11	Dec. 11	Dec. 4	Nov. 27	Nov. 6
APO/FPO/DPO AA ZIP   340	Dec. 16	Dec. 11	Dec. 11	Dec. 4	Nov. 27	Nov. 6
APO/FPO/DPO AP ZIPs 962-966	Dec. 16	Dec. 11	Dec. 11	Dec. 4	Nov. 27	Nov. 6

¹ PMEMS is available to selected military/diplomatic Post Offices. Check with your local Post Office to determine if this service is available to an APO/FPO/DPO address.

² PAL is a service that provides air transportation for parcels on a space-available basis. PAL is available for Standard Post items not exceeding 30 pounds in weight or 60 inches in length and girth combined. The applicable PAL fee must be paid in addition to the regular surface price for each addressed piece sent by PAL service.

³ SAM parcels are paid at Standard Post prices with maximum weight and size limits of 15 pounds and 60 inches in length and girth combined. SAM parcels are first transported domestically by surface and then to overseas destinations by air on a space-available basis.

Use the Military Care Kit to Send Presents and Care Packages
The Postal Service has created a free “Military Care Kit” based on the items most frequently requested by military families. The kit contains:

1. Two Priority Mail APO/FPO/DPO Flat Rate Boxes

2. Two Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Boxes
3. Priority Mail tape4. Priority Mail address labels
5. Appropriate customs forms

To order the kit, call 800-610-8734. Guidelines for packing, addressing and shipping items to U.S. troops can be found at usps.com/ship/apo-fpo-dpo.htm. To order Flat-Rate Boxes featuring the “America Supports You” logo, go to usps.com/freeboxes.

Addressing the Package
1. Write the service member’s full name
2. Include the unit and APO/FPO/DPO address with the 9-digit ZIP Code (if one is assigned). For example:

Army/Air Post Office (APO)

PFC JANE DOE
PSC 3 BOX 4120
APO AE 09021

Fleet Post Office (FPO)

SEAMAN JOSEPH SMITH
UNIT 100100 BOX 4120
FPO AP 96691

Diplomatic Post Office (DPO)

MELANIE ADAMS
UNIT 8400 BOX 0000
DPO AE 09498-0048

1. Do not write the country name where the service member is stationed in the address
2. Include a return address
3. Inside the box, include the service member’s name and address as well as the sender’s name and address on an index card in case the shipping label gets damaged in transit

Domestic mailing deadlines are as follows:                               

Standard Post	First-Class Mail	Priority Mail	Priority Mail Express
Dec. 14	Dec. 19	Dec. 20	Dec. 22

USPS Previews Alzheimer’s Stamp

The U.S. Postal Service previewed the image of the Alzheimer’s Semipostal fundraising stamp.

Available nationwide Nov. 30, the Alzheimer’s Semipostal stamp will be sold for 60 cents. The price includes the First-Class single-piece postage rate in effect at the time of purchase plus an amount to fund Alzheimer’s research. By law, revenue from sales of the Alzheimer’s Semipostal stamp — minus the postage paid and the reimbursement of reasonable costs incurred by the Postal Service — will be distributed to the National Institutes of Health, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer Megan J. Brennan will dedicate the stamp. The artwork is an illustration that first appeared on the 2008 42-cent Alzheimer’s Awareness stamp. It shows an older woman in profile with a caring hand on her shoulder with the suggestion of sunlight behind her and clouds in front of and below her. On the 2008 stamp, she was facing left; the artwork for this stamp shows her facing right to help differentiate between the two stamps. Stamp artist Matt Mahurin of Topanga Canyon, CA, worked under the direction of art director Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD.

The Semipostal Authorization Act, Pub. L. 106–253, grants the U.S. Postal Service discretionary authority to issue and sell semipostal fundraising stamps to advance such causes as it considers to be ‘‘in the national public interest and appropriate.’’ Under the program, the Postal Service intends to issue five semipostal fundraising stamps over a 10-year period, with each stamp to be sold for no more than two years. The Alzheimer’s Semipostal stamp is the first and will be followed by a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) semipostal stamp to be issued in 2019. The next three discretionary semipostal stamps have not yet been determined. 

Under the Act, the Postal Service will consider proposals for future semipostals until May 20, 2023. The Federal Register notice outlining this program can be found at the following url:  https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-04-20/pdf/2016-09081.pdf.