10 THINGS YOU DON’T KNOW
ABOUT THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
1. Don’t fight Mother Nature this holiday season. Stay inside where it’s nice and
warm and let the Postal Service do what it does best — pick up and deliver
mail. Free package pickup is available from home or office, regardless of the
weather.
2. Unlike other shipping companies, there is no fee for the service. usps.com/pickup
3. The Postal Service will process more than 20 million pounds of mail for
delivery to military installations around the world, including war zones in
Iraq and Afghanistan.
4. Greeting cards, postcards, gift cards from more than 20 national retailers,
even year-end letters to family and friends can be created, packaged and
mailed through usps.com. Hassle-free shopping at a time that’s convenient
to you. usps.com/cardstore
5. Santa isn’t the only one working on Christmas. The Postal Service will deliver
Express Mail in most major cities on Dec. 24 and Dec. 25.
6. Going away for the holidays? Don’t worry. Premium Forwarding Service
allows you to have all your mail sent to you at your temporary location. Most
mail is forwarded once a week by Priority Mail. usps.com/premiumforwarding
7. The Postal Service will deliver 19 billion cards, letters and packages between
Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. On average, the Postal Service processes 700
million pieces of mail every day. During the holidays, that volume will increase
to 826 million pieces of mail.
8. The Postal Service handles 46 percent of the world’s card and letter mail volume
– delivering more mail to more addresses in a larger geographical area than any
other post in the world.
9. To move all this mail, the Postal Service will increase air cargo lift of mail by
almost 32 percent and put 214,500 delivery vehicles on roadways. By Dec. 9,
the National Operations Center will be staffed around the clock, seven days
a week, to monitor and coordinate mail transportation nationwide.
10. More than 1.4 billion holiday Nutcracker stamps will be printed this year.
Stamps recognizing Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and Eid, as well as the Madonna
and Child image, are available during the holiday season.
Log on to usps.com and step into a Post Office. Ship a package, arrange a free
package pickup, purchase stamps, design and print holiday cards, print postage
and shipping labels and order specialty philatelic gift products.