USPSNEWS@WORK

Sticking to the message: Repositionable note program launched

The Postal ServiceTM has launched a program that allows repositionable notes (RPNs) - "sticky notes" - to be placed on cards, large letters, catalogs, magazines and newspapers.

Customers are charged one- half cent for First-Class Mail® RPNs and 1.5 cents for Periodicals or Standard Mail® RPNs.

The removable 3- by 3-inch paper messages can easily be peeled off and placed on calendars, telephones or computer monitors.

"RPNs are billboards for business mail. They extend the life of the mailpiece," said Pricing and Classification V.P. Stephen Kearney. "They add value by highlighting important sale dates and information, contact phone numbers, coupons and other key points that companies want their customers to remember and act on."

USPS® worked with 3M, makers of the original Post-it note, during a one-year test of the RPN's compatibility with automated Postal Service systems. The test's success has allowed RPNs to be extended to other forms of mail.

Million-month march: Carrier Pickup Online Notification hits 7 million

Customers are getting the word about USPS shipping options on usps.com® with Carrier Pickup Online Notification - and the 7 millionth package pickup proves it.

The package was handed off March 30 to Vienna, VA, letter carrier John Blair by small -business owner Mona Hansen, who ships designer clothing and jewelry to domestic and international clients. She recently switched

from a competitor because of the convenience and cost savings of Priority Mail® with Carrier PickupTM service.

"Our employees are doing a great job of getting the word out to customers about quick, easy and convenient shipping solutions like Carrier Pickup," says Chief Operating Officer Pat Donahoe. "Carrier Pickup is a hit. The numbers reflect that. The sky's the limit!"

Vienna Postmaster Alton Miller says Carrier Pickup Online Notification has helped his office revenue grow. "Once customers find out they can ship online with packaging, Delivery ConfirmationTM and Carrier Pickup at no extra charge - the sale is made," says Miller.

Not only has Carrier Pickup Online Notification hit the 7 million mark, March is the second month with a million packages shipped using the feature - the first was December 2004.

A dream album: PMG clears exhibit for takeoff

From left, PMG Jack Potter, Smith- sonian Government Relations Director Nell Payne, Lockheed Martin Distribution Technologies President Judy Marks and USPS Board of Governors Chairman James Miller at the exhibit opening.

One-of-a-kind, rare stamps and envelopes are showcased in an exhibit opened April 6 by Postmaster General Jack Potter.

"Stamps Take Flight" features items from the Postmaster General's Collection at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum in Washington, DC.

"This is the stamp collector's dream album," said Potter, "with U.S. stamps and other rare postal artifacts you won't find anywhere else in the world."

The collection of aviation-related mail, stamps and memorabilia ranges from the first U.S. airmail delivery by balloon nearly 150 years ago to lunar postmarks, highlighting the history of U.S. stamp making. "The Postmark from the Moon" includes the Apollo 15 mail pouch, inkpad and postmarked envelope - with fingerprints of lunar dust imprinted when postmarked on the moon's surface.

"Stamps Take Flight" will be on view through March 19, 2006. For more information, visit www.postal.si.edu.

The Penn is mightier: Three-time Pulitzer winner to be honored on 100th birthday

The Postal Service will honor literary giant Robert Penn Warren with a commemorative stamp April 22 in his town of Guthrie, KY. Kentuckiana District Manager Ann Wright will dedicate the stamp.

The stamp is the 21st in the Literary Arts series. Designed and illustrated by Carl Herrman and Will Wilson, it draws from a 1948 photo of Warren and scenes from his 1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All the King's Men.

Warren also won Pulitzers in 1958 and 1979 for poetry, and remains the only writer to win for both fiction and poetry. While teaching at Louisiana State University, he helped establish The Southern Review as a major literary journal. It was there he learned the state history and politics that would be key to All the King's Men, his most famous work.

The power of the Pen: USPS Marketing wins six awards

The Postal Service Marketing Department has earned six awards in the 2005 Dalton Pen Awards competition - including the highest public service or community relations campaign award and the first- and third-place speechwriting awards.

The top award went to the USPS 2005 Marketing Outreach articles, while the speechwriting awards were for two keynote speeches by CMO Anita Bizzotto, "Six Keys to Unlocking the Power of the Mail" and "The Power of One."

Honors recognition was shared with Public Affairs & Communications for the USPS-TV program MarketPlace in the multimedia category, the 2005 Marketing Outreach articles in the feature articles category, and the Marketing Outreach article "Want to Make Grandma's Day?" in the copywriting category.

Established in 1993, The Dalton Pen Communications Awards program is designed to recognize outstanding communications projects.

A million questions: Accounting Help Desk reaches milestone

The Accounting Help Desk - which opened for business in November 2002 as part of the Shared Services Accounting initiative - handled its 1 millionth customer contact March 22.

The Help Desk began as an offshoot of the Money Order Help Desk at the Accounting Service Center in St. Louis, with ten agents handling accounting inquiries from just four districts. The center now has 82 agents who field calls regarding money orders, payroll, accounts payable - and almost all types of financial issues, from both internal and external customers, everywhere the Postal Service does business.

Help Desk Agent Linda Ayers - one of the original ten employees - took call number 1 million.