Workplace improvements continued, with a 13.7 percent rate reduction in Occupational Safety and Health Administration injury and illness rate. Career employees responded in record numbers to a quarterly workplace environment survey — Voice of the Employee (VOE) — and provided the most positive survey index yet recorded.

Comprehensive postal reform bills were reported out of full committees both in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Despite widespread stakeholder interest and support for many of the bills' provisions - particularly those involving an escrow requirement to begin in 2006 and transfer of a $27 billion military retiree obligation from the Treasury to the Postal Service - no final action was taken on either bill during the closing session of the 108th Congress.

Progress has been made toward recovery from the 2001 terrorist and anthrax attacks. The Curseen-Morris Processing and Distribution Center in Washington, D.C., was reopened in December 2003 after being fully sanitized and renovated. Similar decontamination of the Trenton, NJ, Processing and Distribution Center took place in October 2003, with reopening scheduled for spring 2005. New York City's Church Street Station, heavily damaged during the terrorist attacks of 9/11, was reopened in July 2004 following extensive repairs and renovation.

The safety of Postal Service employees and customers continues to be a major focus. State-of-the-art Biohazard Detection Systems have been deployed to 38 major mail processing facilities throughout the nation. The systems sample mail and provide employees and local first responders with an early alert if anthrax is detected. A total of 283 key mail processing facilities will have this equipment when deployment is completed in 2005.

New product and service initiatives continued to add value to the mail and make it quicker, easier and more convenient for customers to do business with the Postal Service.

New capabilities expanded the utility of www.usps.com, the Post Office that is as near as a home or office computer. Carrier Pickup™ Online Notification Service enables customers to use www.usps.com to request pickup of their postage-paid Express Mail or Priority Mail package along with any other prepaid items by their carrier on the next day's delivery rounds at no extra charge.

Click-N-Ship, available on www.usps.com, has added online insurance as an option when printing prepaid package labels. The introduction of electronic return receipt service also adds convenience, improved reliability, and speed to this valuable feature.

Postal Service shipping solutions are also available through the eBay and PayPal Web sites, where users can purchase postage and print Postal Service shipping labels directly from their computers and pay postage via their PayPal account. Both the buyer and seller can track the delivery status of their package online.

About 2,500 Automated Postal Center units have been introduced at Post Office locations throughout the nation. These award-winning kiosks offer customers a wide range of postal retail services, without the need to stand in line and, in many locations, are open around the clock.

Small, mid-size, and large businesses all had the opportunity to learn about the latest in mailing technology and hear from Postal Service and industry experts at two major mailer events. The annual National Postal Forum, the industry's premier trade show and conference, drew more than 6,000 attendees in Washington, D.C., in September. This followed May's successful National Postal Customer Council Day (PCC) in Boxborough, MA, where representatives of almost 200 community-based councils heard, firsthand, of the Postal Service's commitment to revitalize the PCC network to benefit both member businesses and the Postal Service. The Postmaster General's speech was telecast across the country on National Postal Customer Council Day.

In carrying out its mission as a fundamental service to the people of America, the Postal Service will continue to pursue Transformation Plan strategies to promote the value and affordability of the mail.

2. Board of Governors

As the governing body of the U.S. Postal Service, the 11-member Board of Governors has responsibilities comparable to a board of directors of a publicly held corporation. The board is composed of nine governors appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate. The other two members of the board are the Postmaster General and the Deputy Postmaster General. The governors appoint the Postmaster General, who serves at their pleasure without a specific term of office. The governors, together with the Postmaster General, appoint the Deputy Postmaster General (39 USC 202).