Number of Employees

At year-end, we had 707,485 career employees, substantially all of whom reside in the United States. We also had 100,111 noncareer employees. See Operating Statistics on page 49 for additional detail.

Available Information

The United States Postal Service is not subject to the informational requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act). We do not file periodic reports, proxy statements or other information with the SEC.

Financial and other information can be accessed on the "About USPS and News" section of our website at usps.com. We make available, free of charge, copies of our annual report, as soon as reasonably practicable after it is produced. Copies of financial and other information are available free of charge by sending a request to United States Postal Service Public Affairs and Communications, 475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, DC 20260-5241.

Information on our website is not incorporated into this document.

Item 2. Properties

The Postal Service currently controls more than 34,000 leased or owned facilities in the United States, its possessions, and territories. We also contract with almost 3,000 more locations to distribute our products. The size of our facilities range from fifty square feet to as large as 33.7 acres under one roof. The types of real estate include, but are not limited to, standard Post Offices, carrier facilities, mail processing plants, retail outlets, business office space, warehouse space, vehicle maintenance facilities, and other permanent or temporary space. The vast majority of these facilities are Post Offices, stations, branches, and carrier annexes. We have 416 processing and distribution facilities and bulk mail facilities, and 25 other facilities primarily devoted to logistics and transportation management.

We have one of the largest vehicle fleets in the country, including an extensive fleet of alternative fuel vehicles.

Item 3. Legal proceedings

We are subject to various claims and liabilities that arise in the ordinary and normal course of postal operations. These claims generally cover labor, tort, and contract disputes and are regularly reviewed by management and, where significant, by the Audit and Finance Committee of the Board of Governors, or the full Board of Governors. In our evaluation, no single claim is material to our financial statements taken as a whole. We have accrued in our financial statements of September 30, 2004, the estimated impact of those claims we think it probable we will pay.

Item 4. Submission of matters to a vote of security holders

Not applicable to this report.