Community Stewardship

USPS strives to be a responsible corporate citizen in the communities where our employees live and work. We participate in a variety of initiatives:

“Have You Seen Me?” Program

Another way USPS care for the community is through the “Have You Seen Me?” program. Since 1985, we have partnered with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Valassis to reunite families with missing children through “America’s Looking for Its Missing Children” program, recognized as one of the nation’s most effective public service initiatives.

Valassis publishes the weekly RedPlum circular that showcases “Have You Seen Me?” color photos of missing children. As a direct result of leads generated by the program, 148 children have been safely recovered. Additional information is available at missingkids.com.

Carrier Alert

USPS helps keep a watchful eye out in communities through the Carrier Alert Program. This program recognizes that carriers can help monitor the wellbeing of elderly and disabled customers.

A local sponsoring agency notifies the Post Office of persons who want to participate in the service and decals are placed in their mailboxes for carriers to see.

Carriers will then be alert to an accumulation of mail that might signify an accident or illness, and notify officials.

“2 SMRT 4U” Campaign

Recognizing the power of its trusted public voice, USPS and the Postal Inspection Service partnered with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children on another campaign, “2 SMRT 4U,” which educates teens about protecting themselves from the threat of online sexual predators.

The program, which includes an educational website, has been successful in raising teen awareness and fighting sexual abuse. The Inspection Service received the Department of Justice Internet Safety Award for the campaign and for its continuing work protecting children from sexual exploitation.

Anti-Fraud Measures

USPS spearheads a variety of efforts to help protect U.S. citizens from fraud. These activities include policing crimes against the mail, fighting counterfeiting and educating consumers about fraudulent mail schemes.

In 2008, Postal Inspectors arrested more than 9,000 suspects for crimes involving the mail or against the Postal Service.

Postal Inspectors also lead a global initiative to protect consumers from counterfeit check scams. To date, we’ve stopped nearly 800,000 fake checks worth nearly $2.7 billion from entering this country.

In addition to our law enforcement efforts, USPS helps educate consumers about fraud every year during National Consumer Protection Week.

Election Mail

Building on the success of Vote-by-Mail in 2008, the Postal Service continues to work with voters, election officials and Congress to strengthen a system that allows voters to participate conveniently in elections from their homes. It also reduces travel time and fuel consumption for voters and eases the burden of long lines at polling stations. Proposed legislation being considered by Congress would expand availability of mail-in voting to all Americans domestically and abroad.

We continue to work with voters, election officials and Congress to further strengthen confidence in a Vote-by-Mail system. We are developing a business case for a Vote-by-Mail product that will provide an affordable, premium service for ballots that is trackable, secure, reliable and private. Intelligent Mail barcode technology can support a track-and-confirm process for ballot envelopes that will be a key attribute of a Vote-by-Mail product.

In addition, we sponsor a national task force composed of election officials and key USPS personnel that meets regularly to discuss election mail issues.