LITTLE ROCK, AR — The U.S. Postal Service processes more than 180 billion pieces of mail each year with the help of automated processing equipment. Sometimes unsealed mail can jam these machines damaging mail and slowing down mail processing, according to Arkansas District Manager David Camp.

“Many times unsealed mailpieces such as seasonal first-class cards and letters from our customers cause our equipment to jam,” said Camp. “When our customers have a whole stack of letters they are sending such as during the Christmas holidays they might inadvertently forget to seal one or more envelopes.”

Unsealed mail has many issues including mail content security, article damage, processing delays, and loss of mail for customers, says Camp. “This can cause equipment problems including increased jams, double feeds, and diverter failures which contribute to poor mail service performance including mis-sorted mail.”

Sealing the envelope is just as important as using the correct address with the proper Zip Code and affixing the correct postage, Camp says. “It may seem like a simple oversight, but one unsealed envelope potentially can cause us a lot of maintenance issues and delay the delivery of our customers’ mail.”

Camp also reminds customers that they can save time and money by doing their business on the Postal Services www.usps.com website.

# # #

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

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 26th in the 2008 Fortune 500.