ROCKFORD, IL — On Monday, February 18, 2013, the U.S. Postal Service will observe the federal holiday honoring the first President of the United States George Washington. The holiday is commonly referred to as Presidents Day. The Rockford Post Office and its surrounding stations and branches will be closed and there will be no mail delivery or retail service on this day.

However, customers are encouraged to still drop their mail in blue street collection boxes, so they can be processed early the next day.

“We want to advise anyone with stamped or metered mail ready for delivery to drop this mail into a blue collection box as soon as possible,” said Rockford Postmaster Steve Webb. “This also applies to business customers that are open during the holiday.”

And for customers depositing mail on Tuesday, February 19, Webb advises they drop their mail no later than 3:00 p.m. in order to get it processed sooner.

“On your way to work or school is the best time to drop the mail at the Post Office or blue collection box,” adds Webb. “The earlier in the day we receive the mail, the sooner we can send it on its way to its destination.”

Post Offices will reopen on Tuesday, February 19, with full mail delivery and retail service.

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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