HONOLULU — The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will commemorate Kamehameha Day on June 11 by hosting a mini ho’olaule’a at its Waikiki Post Office. The 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. event, featuring Hawaiian music and dance performed by postal employees and free samples of local-style food products, also marks the debut of a special edition of the popular Large Flat Rate shipping box branded with an Aloha From Hawaii graphic and tagline.

During the event Waikiki Post Office employees will be dressed in Aloha attire, the office will be decorated with tropical flora and customers will be invited to learn about the new box and enjoy the entertainment and free samples. The Aloha Flat Rate Boxes will be available at most Post Offices across the state.

Among the iconic local companies who will be adding their own version of Aloha through the dissemination of product samples at the Waikiki Post Office event are Eggs N Things, Hilo Hattie, Island Treats Creations, Oils of Aloha, and Tropical Farms.

“We invited these particular companies to join us for the debut of the Aloha Flat Rate Box because their products are an ideal fit for this new box,” said USPS Customer Relations Manager Gary Gardetto. “We hope these new boxes will prompt Hawaii residents to buy and ship more local products to friends, family and colleagues around the world. It’s sort of a local-style economic stimulus plan.”

Each of the companies participating in the postal ho’olaule’a will also donate Aloha Flat Rate Boxes stuffed with their full-size products for a drawing open to all who visit the Waikiki Post Office during the event. Other companies--Crack Seed Center, Hawaiian Kine, Island Princess and Menehune Mac--will not be present but have agreed to donate product-filled boxes for the drawing.

One customer eager to use the new Aloha Flat Rate Box is Operation Homefront of Hawaii, the local chapter of a national non-profit organization that regularly ships island-style goodies to Hawaii soldiers deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait. The group is currently collecting donations of local treats and gift items for 500 Aloha Care Packages to be sent to soldiers for their receipt by Independence Day. Representatives of Operation Homefront will visit the Waikiki Station at noon on June 11 to pick up enough Aloha Flat Rate Boxes to meet their shipping needs.

The Aloha Flat Rate Box is a Hawaii-only edition of the Postal Service’s extremely popular line of Flat Rate shipping products. Hawaii postal officials received special permission to create the localized version of the Large Flat Rate Box. Hawaii residents lead the nation in the utilization of Flat Rate Box products. Flat Rate Boxes and Envelopes allow customers to ship anywhere in the world for one flat price (70-pound domestic and 20-pound international weight limits). If it fits, it ships.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 149 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes, six days a week. It has 34,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services, not tax dollars, to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.