Tampa FL — The Ochopee, Florida Post Office is going pink for the month of October to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Postmaster Nanette Watson wants to sell more Breast Cancer Research First-Class Semipostal Stamps than any other Post Office during the month of October.

On October 1, at 3:30 p.m., the pink transformation will begin, thanks to students from Everglades High School who have volunteered to paint the Post Office.

The self-adhesive, nondenominated semipostal stamp is sold in sheets of twenty 55-cent stamps. The price of a semipostal pays for the First-Class single-piece postage rate in effect at the time of purchase.

By law, 70 percent of the net amount raised is given to the National Institutes of Health and 30 percent is given to the Medical Research Program at the Department of Defense. Since 1998, the stamp has raised over $75 million for breast cancer research.

“The Ochopee Post Office may be small, but I am hopeful that customers will purchase enough Breast Cancer Research stamps from this Post Office to make a big difference,” said Watson.

Customers around the globe can purchase stamps from the Ochopee Post Office without a personal visit. Stamps can be purchased by mailing a check payable to Postmaster to: Ochopee Postmaster, 38000 Tamiami Trail E, Ochopee FL 34141-9998. The Breast Cancer Research Semipostal First-Class Stamps cost $11.00 per sheet.  Customers should include a return address and their purchase will be mailed to them in an envelope bearing the collectible “Nation’s Smallest Post Office” postmark.

Nestled in the Big Cypress National Preserve, the Ochopee Post Office measures only 8’4” x 7’3” on the exterior and 7’ x 8’ on the interior, and offers all Postal Service products and services. Mail for over 900 residents is sorted by the postmaster and delivered by Ochopee’s one mail carrier, to customers on a route that stretches 132 miles long and reaches into three counties, including deliveries on the Miccosukee Indian Reservation.  Tour buses filled with tourists from around the world visit the Post Office regularly to take photos, to make purchases and to receive the collectible postmark.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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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.

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