Ship it. Win it. New promotion with eBay is
coming to select Post Offices
The Postal Service is teaming up with eBay for a new
promotion designed to drive revenue for Priority Mail flat-
rate boxes. The "Ship it/Win it" sweepstakes, which runs
May 24 through June 30, will give customers a chance to
win up to $10,000 to spend on eBay. While USPS employees and their family members are not eligible to participate in the sweepstakes, look for a special Post Office
contest to be announced soon.
In-store promotional materials, radio spots and Internet
banner ads will drive customers to pick up a flat-rate box
and entry form at one of 8,018 participating Post Offices.
Customers will enter a code from the entry form online at
www.shipitwinit.com or mail in their entry for a chance to
win.
A promotional guide and in-store signs are arriving in
participating Post Offices this month. Go to the Advertising
Web site at http://blue.usps.gov/advertising to learn more
and find a list of participating Post Offices.
We're showing customers that Priority Mail flat-rate
boxes are a great shipping value that's quick, easy and
convenient. If it fits, it ships for just $8.10!
New Priority Mail Shoe Box debuts
 The new Priority Mail Shoe Box.
Consumers are buying
more clothing and accessories
through the mail - and shoes
are one of the hottest growing
items in this category. The
Postal Service is getting its
foot in the door by offering the
Priority Mail Shoe Box as a
convenient way to ship or return shoes.
"This product offers a
quick, easy and convenient
solution for our customers in
an important and growing market segment," says Chief Marketing Officer Anita Bizzotto.
It's estimated that on average the shoe box will ship for
between $4.05 and $6.05 coast to coast.
The Priority Mail Shoe Box has been designed so that
almost any brand and size of shoe box will slide right in.
The box is durable and self-sealing and, as with all Priority
Mail packaging, is available at no additional cost to Priority
Mail shippers.
The new box will be available at www.usps.com/
shippingsupplies in packs of 10 or by calling 800-610-8734
for larger orders.
A bountiful reception: Letter carrier holds
wedding reception at local food bank
Walnut Creek, CA, Letter Carrier
Margie Louise Garcia.
Walnut Creek, CA,
Letter Carrier Margie
Louise Garcia and Brentwood Post Office Clerk
Geary Lee Baria tied the
knot at the Contra Costa
Food Bank in Concord,
CA, recently.
Her wedding invitations - specially designed small brown
paper bags - reminded
people to bring food for
the hungry. Food donations from the wedding
guests totaled 1,252
pounds - enough to
feed 1,100 people, according to food bank
staff.
Garcia has been the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) food drive coordinator for the Walnut Creek
Post Office for the past five years. She saw her wedding as
a perfect opportunity to kick off the annual NALC Food
Drive this May.
On May 13, communities rallied around their Post
Offices to help stock local food banks for the coming
months. Letter carriers across the country collected food
donations along their routes and returned to their offices
where clerks, mail handlers, custodians, supervisors and
volunteers helped sort and separate everything for local
food banks - and tractor-trailer operators helped transport
it from there.
This was the 14th year for the drive, which has collected
nearly 700 million pounds of food.
Rising costs are behind price adjustment
filing: Mail still a bargain, price changes at
or below inflation
Like most Americans, you're probably feeling the pinch
at the fuel pump - and when you pay your household heat
and electric bills. Not to mention ever-increasing health
care costs.
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It's the same for the Postal Service. That's why we've
filed for price adjustments to take effect next year, including
a 3-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail stamp.
Price changes will vary for other postal products and services. But even with adjustments, the U.S. Mail is still a
great bargain.
Postmaster General Jack Potter noted the price of a
First-Class Mail stamp has increased at rates lower than or
equal to inflation since today's Postal Service began operations in 1971 - while the cost of gasoline has doubled
since the last USPS operational rate adjustment in 2002.
While other delivery services have responded to growing costs with fuel and other surcharges along with annual
rate increases, USPS doesn't have the same flexibility as
other businesses. The price you see is the price you pay,
without extra fees tacked on.
The estimated cost of the proposed price adjustments
for the average household is well below $6 annually, about
50 cents a month.
5-Star Customer Service Awards announced
 Retail Associate Judy Hamel and her
co-workers know customer service is
important - the Wakefield Post Office
has won the 5-Star Customer Service
Award for the second straight time.
Eight performance
clusters and 571 Post
Offices earned recognition
for their quarter 2 customer service efforts.
Six clusters - Boston,
Capital, Northern New
Jersey, Northern Vir- ginia, Massachusetts and Southeast New
England - and more
than 300 Post Offices are
repeat winners. Two
clusters - Long Island
and Maine - are first-
time winners.
Under the 5-Star program, clusters and offices are rated
on a combination of residential and small business
Customer Satisfaction Measurement (CSM) survey
questions - clerk information, clerk efficiency, delivery
accuracy, delivery time of day and Mystery Shopper wait-
time-in-line score. If a Post Office doesn't have a Mystery
Shopper score, CSM-residential/small business wait-time-
in-line scores are used.
Winning clusters receive a crystal star. Winning Post
Offices receive a door cling and employees in those offices
receive lapel pins.
Congratulations to all the winners! To see a listing of
5-Star scores, go to http://blue.usps.gov/caweb/ckm/ckm_5star_welcome.htm.
Favorite Children's Book Animals get warm
Manhattan welcome
 Curious George, left, and The Very
Hungry Caterpillar.
Bronx, NY, Postmaster
Tony Rosario joined
Curious George, Maisy,
and The Very Hungry
Caterpillar in April to re-dedicate the Favor- ite Children's Book
Animals stamp series in
Manhattan.
The ceremony included officials from Borders and the Children's
Book Council (CBC), who
co-sponsored the event
at a Borders location in
the Time Warner Building.
Fifty kids and their families attended the festivities,
which included a story hour and opportunities to make art,
play dress-up and mingle with the live storybook
characters.
The eight stamps were first issued Jan. 10 in Findlay,
OH, and London, England. Along with the three storybook
characters who showed up for the event, its images include
Wilbur, Fox in Socks, Wild Thing, Olivia and Frederick.
The CBC devoted a page of its Web site to photos from
the event: http://www.cbcbooks.org/events/usps.html.
Palladino Post Office dedication
 Postmaster General Jack Potter at
Vincent Palladino Station renaming
ceremony. Seated behind Potter are
State Senator Diane Savino and
Assemblyman Michael Cusick.
National Association
of Postal Supervisors
(NAPS) President Vincent Palladino was
known for his work ethic
and compassion. His career spanned 44 years,
from his start as a letter
carrier, to supervisor, to
association president. On
May 12, the Staten Island
Post Office station where
his career began was renamed in his memory.
Congress approved bills sponsored by Rep. Vito
Fossella (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) and Sens. Charles
Schumer (D-NY) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) to rename the
Tompkins Avenue branch. More than 250 family members,
friends and co-workers turned out for the ceremony honoring Palladino, who died in 2004.
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