Staten Island, NY — With nearly 100,000 places to buy stamps, mail and ship a package, the U.S. Postal Service is expanding customer access to its products and services.

Staten Island Postmaster Carmen Fede said, “It’s not about brick-and-mortar Post Offices anymore, as postal products move online and into retail outlets, grocery stores, office supply chains, and pharmacies.  We want to make it easier and more convenient for our customers to do business with the post office.”

Throughout the Triboro NY area the Postal Service is teaming up with hundreds of new stores so customers can buy stamps where they already shop.  Responding to changing customer needs and a business plan that calls for expanding access to postal products, stores including Costco and Office Depot are offering stamps, shipping and mailing services.  Customers can refer to the attached list of neighborhood establishments that sell USPS postage stamps. Many of these businesses also offer other USPS products and services. (Refer to the below list of alternate locations in Staten Island to purchase stamps and more.)

The Post Office Manager adds, “Computer savvy customers can find dozens of retail establishments to purchase postal services in local communities by visiting an interactive map at www.uspseverywhere.com.”  All you need to do is type in a ZIP Code. Using a simple icon guide designating stamps, shipping and packaging, PO Boxes and other services, customers can easily navigate to retail outlets, grocery stores, Automated Postal Center (APC) kiosks and Post Offices, among other options.

With Post Office hours usually ending by 5 p.m. or earlier, customers can purchase Forever stamps and send a Priority Mail Flat Rate Box as long as the alternate sites are open — often as late as 9 p.m.  Some sites are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Nearly 35 percent of the Postal Service retail revenue comes from expanded access locations such as Costco, Office Depot, grocery stores, drug stores, APCs, ATMs and usps.com, open 24/7.

# # #

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, the U.S. Postal Service was ranked number one in overall service performance, out of the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world, Oxford Strategic Consulting. 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 Twitter @USPS and at Facebook.com/usps.