We're all aware that the Postal Service has been struggling lately. Sometimes, it seems like everyone and their uncle has something to say about what should be done to keep us afloat, or about our salary and benefits and how much we're overpaid, or about how unfriendly or how lazy or clumsy or dishonest we are, or about how we're prone to workplace violence, on and on it goes.
If you sometimes have trouble feeling a sense of pride about working for the Postal Service, here are some facts to keep in mind:
1. The US Postal Service has been in business for 235 years. How many companies can say that?
2. The Postal Service is a self-supporting entity that is committed to providing service to every US residence without receiving any government assistance or tax dollars and with constraints under which other successful businesses would not thrive, such as having to pre-fund employees’ retirement and limitations on rate increases.
3. The Postal Service employs over 600,000 American citizens without over having laid off a single employee.
4. For 5 years in a row, the Postal Service was ranked as the #1 Most Trusted Government Agency.
5. Postal Employees work hard to protect our fellow citizens. Daily, Postal Inspectors prevent crimes; Carriers rescue customers; and mail processors and window clerks are on the look-out for signs of fraud and terrorism.
6. Postal employees are generous. Each year, we give an average of $38 million to the charities involved in the Combined Federal Campaign.
7. Along that same train of thought, Stamp Out Hunger, the letter carriers’ annual food drive, has collected over a billion pounds of food to restock the nation’s food banks and pantries. The 2010 drive set a new record: 77.1 million pounds of food was collected this year alone.
8. The Breast Cancer Awareness semi-postal stamps have raised over $70 million for breast cancer research. Sales of the stamps have been extended until 2011.
9. More than 49,000 Postal employees have registered for the Bone Marrow Donation program. In 2009, the Postal Service received the first Rod Carew Award for Leadership for having saved more lives through marrow donation (80) than any other organization
10. The USPS is on the forefront of employing green technology to help preserve our natural resources, and new products and practices are being introduced all the time. Since 1995, the Postal Service has won more than 75 major environmental awards.
