LOVELAND, CO — Continuing a 67-year old tradition, the U.S. Postal Service and Loveland Chamber of Commerce are teaming up to send cards and letters around the world with a coveted “Loveland” special postmark.

A unique design created by a local artist and selected via a competitive contest is stamped on the outside of all Valentine envelopes and re-mailed from the
Sweetheart City.

More than 200,000 cards and letters were handled last year, from more than 100 countries and every state in the Union. Since the start of the program in 1947, more than 12 million Valentines have been re-mailed by Loveland. It’s the largest program of its kind in the world.

To have cards and letters re-mailed with the Loveland postmark, properly stamp and address each individual Valentine and put them all in a larger, stamped envelope and mail them to:

Postmaster
Valentine Re-mailing
446 E. 29th St.
Loveland, CO 80538

Deadlines for re-mailing and delivery by Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14:

• Valentine cards/envelopes destined for re-mailing outside of the U.S. to other countries and international destinations should be in Loveland by February 4, 2012.
• Valentine cards/envelopes destined for re-mailing within the U.S. and outside of Colorado should be in Loveland by February 9, 2012.
• Valentine cards/envelopes destined for re-mailing within the state of Colorado should be in Loveland by February 11, 2012.

Colorado residents can also drop off pre-stamped valentine envelopes at King Soopers and City Market stores which have Loveland Valentine Re-mailing boxes, at area Loveland locations with valentine boxes, and in the Red Valentine Mail Boxes located in the lobby at both Loveland Post Offices.

# # #

Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm.

For reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional, please go to http://about.usps.com/news/media-contacts/usps-local-media-contacts.pdf.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation — 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office™ Boxes. The Postal Service™ receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com®, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, Oxford Strategic Consulting ranked the U.S. Postal Service number one in overall service performance of the posts in the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

Follow the Postal Service on www.twitter.com/USPS and at www.facebook.com/USPS.