USPSNEWS@WORK

Stamps Everywhere!
USPS ad campaign spotlights
expanded access

WASHINGTON - USPS has launched a new advertising campaign to spread the word that postage stamps are available when and where people need them - at supermarkets, drug stores, ATMs - wherever they see the "Buy Stamps Here" decal.

•How many locations are we talking? Only about 60,000 nationwide! And, they're available online, too, at www.usps.com.

• A USPS transformation goal is to expand access to postal services, making them more convenient. The new print and television advertising supports this strategy.

• A 30-second TV commercial will appear nationally during morning and afternoon news programs, cable programs and network sports shows. The ad will run now through Nov. 24. A full-page print ad will run in consumer, business and news magazines, and USA Today, during October and November.

•The TV spot will get heavier play in the Detroit and Dallas/Fort Worth markets. USPS wants to compare whether the increased media exposure in those markets results in increased sales through expanded access channels.

•Plus, two supermarket chains in Detroit and Washington, DC, will display decals on aisle floors adjacent to checkout counters, on call-out cards in the greeting card section and on shopping carts.

•This messaging will appear Nov. 5 through Dec. 2 in Safeway and A&P-owned locations in the Washington, DC, metro area, and A&P-owned stores in the Detroit metro area.

The envelope please:
14 take USPS Diversity awards

WASHINGTON - It's highly competitive. Over 1,200 nominations were received. It's highly selective. Only 140 make it to final review phase. And it's finally been decided. There are 14 winners of the 2002 National Diversity Awards.

•One employee team and 13 individuals were chosen as this year's award honorees.

•"The number and quality of nominees - and winners - is a tribute to the level of commitment to diversity that can be seen throughout this organization," said Diversity Development VP Ben Ocasio.

•Greensboro, NC, Postmaster Enola Mixon won the "Dot Sharpe" Lifetime Achievement Award, while Lakeland District Manager Murry Weatherall won the Leadership Award.

•The team award went to the Madison Area Diversity Team of Mildred Albino, Becky Butson, Sharon Dahlberg, Betty Knapp, Richard Kozelka, Dana Ostrowski, Nels Petersen, Michael Pigusch and Rose Schulte.

•Individual awards went to Roger Nienaber, Bernadette Johnson and Benji Spears in the Great Lakes Area; Elma Ramirez, Peter Chang, Lorraine Avitia and Rebecca Bernard in the Pacific Area; Jaime Elizondo Jr. and Gerald Hohfeld in the Southwest Area; Kerry Kowalski in the Western Area; and Sean Lacey in the Eastern Area.

Year of Firsts:
2003's commemoratives

WASHINGTON - The 100th anniversary of the first controlled, powered airplane flight, the first African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice and the first national wildlife refuge are some of the historic subjects to be honored on commemorative stamps in 2003.

•The "Year of Firsts" begins in January with the 11th stamp in the Lunar New Year series, followed by stamps honoring Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and novelist Zora Neale Hurston.

•In March, Ohio is saluted with a stamp marking its bicentennial. Also expected in March is a stamp commemorating the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge and the creation of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

•Expected in April are a stamp paying tribute to Cesar Chavez, the influential civil rights and farm labor leader, and single stamps celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first controlled, powered airplane flight and the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase.

•Actress Audrey Hepburn receives top billing in May with the issuance of the ninth stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series. In June, five southeastern lighthouses represent the third installment in a series of stamps depicting the silent sentries of the U.S. shoreline and the Great Lakes.

Other stamp subjects include country music singer Roy Acuff, reptiles and amphibians, the Korean War Veterans Memorial and early football heroes. Go to http://www.usps.com/news/2002/philatelic/sr02_074.htm for a complete a list of stamps.

They're easy to use …
and they don't melt:
Tape Stamps feature Holiday Snowmen

WASHINGTON - They're cost effective, environmentally friendly and easy to use. They're Tape Stamps. And in a literal sense they unroll just like tape for easy application to customers' envelopes and packages. And now, just in time for the holidays, USPS has upped the convenience factor of Tape Stamps times 10.

•The new 37-cent Holiday Snowmen stamps to be issued Oct. 28 will be offered in linerless, self-adhesive coils of 100 stamps, and a limited quantity will be packaged with a newly developed easy-glide dispenser.

•"The Postal Service is always looking for ways to make life a bit easier for our customers," says Stamp Services Manager Cathy Caggiano. "We've worked closely with the printer to ensure that these stamps are easy to use, yet meet our quality control standards."

•Three million coils of Tape Stamps will be distributed to larger Post Offices starting Oct. 29. Quantities available at each Post Office will be determined by their prior sales history of coil stamps. Some Post Offices will offer the new dispensers, too.

•Postal stores will offer Tape Stamps in two packaging formats - single coils of 100 stamps and single coils of 100 stamps with a reusable dispenser. Tape stamps can fit into standard 1-inch tape dispensers, too. Now that's flexibility.

•Packaging for both products includes a customer opinion survey that will help gauge interest in the products and determine future production.

Stamps A to Z:
Your official guide is here

WASHINGTON - It's back. It's better than ever. And it's your best bet for stamp information. It's the 29th edition of The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps.

•The 600-page guide contains more than 2,000 full-color stamp illustrations, along with market-based values for all U.S. stamps in both used and unused condition.

•It's a great read for beginning stamp collectors, history buffs and hardcore philatelists. And just about anybody else. It's coffee table compatible. It gives friends something to browse through while they wait for that extra cup of joe.

•The guide contains dozens of special features and articles, plus details of U.S. stamp and stationery items through this year. The price is $18.95. It's available at Post Offices, The Postal Store and through 800-STAMP-24.

Getting reacquainted:
Publication 78 updates users on eTravel's features

WASHINGTON - Traveling on business can sometimes be a discombobulating experience, especially when you're not reimbursed promptly for work-related expenses. Since it started two years ago, eTravel has been making faster payments to USPS users.

•To reacquaint travelers with eTravel's features, USPS Accounting has created Publication 78, eTravel: Helpful Hints for Getting Prompt Payment. The publication was mailed to all eTravel users. It serves as a handy reference companion to the online eTravel Quickstart Guide. To access Publication 78 online, go to the Postal Service PolicyNet Web site at http://blue.usps.gov/cpim; click on PUBs.

•The publication is divided into five easy-to-use sections, starting with - what else - "The Basics." This section describes how to access the eTravel Web site through http://blue.usps.gov using Concur Central, the eTravel page. Other sections include:

- "Keep Information Current": It's important for travelers to keep their information current in the "My Profile" section on the Web site.

- "Create Your Expense Report": The publication offers important hints about preparing an expense report, tracking use of a government travel card and other specific data-entry options.

- "Mail Your Receipt Report": While the eTravel system handles nearly everything online, some reports, bills and receipts are required by mail.

- "New Options for Fall 2002": Finally, some new changes to the Web site are described in this section. Everything in the publication is designed to make it easier for USPS employees to prepare their electronic expense reports for official travel.

Residential Delivery Indicator:
Cutting through the smoke and mirrors

WASHINGTON - Residence or business? The new Residential Delivery Indicator (RDI) developed by the National Customer Support Center helps mailers tell which is which so they can avoid paying residential surcharges by shipping with USPS.

•Competitors charge residential surcharges for package deliveries. USPS does not. Customers have long complained that these surcharges are complex and often hidden.

•They wanted a tool that would help them determine if a delivery address is a residence or business so they could choose the best shipping value for their packages.

•RDI is a data product containing all business delivery addresses identified in the USPS database of more than 135 million addresses in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

•RDI is available for an annual licensing fee and includes monthly updates.

Farley Building being sold:
Post Office will stay

The Postal Service has agreed to sell the historic Farley Post Office building in New York City to the Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Corp.

•USPS will retain approximately 250,000 square feet in the two-block-long building, which bears the famous inscription: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

•For the complete story, go to www.usps.com/news/2002/press/pr02_076.htm.