Montgomery EAP Information Session: August 4

VRS/ VRI Training in Montgomery

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Our Owney will travel forever

Wednesday is the big day for the Postal Service: Owney, our beloved canine mascot whose exploits from the late 1800s continue to fascinate the public, will be honored on his own Forever stamp.

And what a lovely stamp it is. Artist Bill Bond depicts an earnest Owney in profile, looking forward to the journey ahead. 

In the background are some of the many medals and tags that he collected along the way. Wherever he traveled, people attached them to his harness or collar. During Owney's near decade on the road, he collected 1,017 such tokens. The National Postal Museum has 370 detailed pictures of them on their website, which you can look at by clicking here.

Bond's approach to creating the stamp was to incorporate both Owney and his travelogue of memorabilia into the design. Beyond the Perf chronicles Bond's creative process and shares several other Owney stamp possibilities that Bond sketched along the way.

Wedneday will be the beginning of a four-day celebration on Owney's home turf. He has resided at the National Postal Museum since 1912 and has the distinction of being the only domestic dog on display in the Smithsonian's vast taxidermy collection.

The First Day of Issuance Ceremony will be Wednesday at 11. To see the ceremony program, you can visit Beyond the Perf by clicking here. 

Afterwards, there will be a series of free family events that will be available Wednesday through Saturday. To view the complete agenda, go to the National Postal Museum's announcement by clicking here.

It all sounds like loads of fun. Postmarks sure wishes that we could go!

Who was Owney?

For those of you who don't know the story of Owney, he started off as a terrier mix stray who wandered into the Albany, New York, Post Office back in 1888. The postal clerks named and fed him and let him sleep on some mailbags.

Because of this positive association, Owney developed a fondness for mailbags and followed them wherever they went, which was of course on the railroads. Thus began his legendary travels.

But if you suspect that the stories about Owney are myths or exaggerations, think again. Yes, this "mutt" became a phenomenom that captured the public's love and imagination, but his exploits were indeed real, as was the widespread love for him.

To have access to several newspaper articles about Owney from that time period, visit the American Philatelic Society's Owney resource page by clicking here.

In 1895, he was sent on a special trip around the world. Marked as a "registered dog package," Owney was placed on a steamer out of Tacoma, Washington, headed for Hong Kong and other exotic locales. The Los Angeles Times reported that he had visited Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East, and it was also reported that the emporer of Japan presented him with a medal bearing the Japanese coat of arms.

It is estimated that over the course of his lifetime, Owney traveled over 143,000 miles, and what was even more amazing was the fact that no vehicle upon which he rode was ever in an accident. At a time when being a railroad mail clerk was dangerous -- according to the National Postal Museum, between 1890 and 1900 more than 80 clerks were killed and over 2,000 injured in train wrecks -- Owney was known far and wide as a Postal lucky charm.

Owney was retired in 1897 and soon afterwards had to be put down when he developed doggy dementia, his personality suddenly changed, and he became aggressive towards people. His death was mourned, and Postal clerks raised the money for him to be immortalized taxidermically.

Over the many years, his stuffed state has suffered much decline, but if you'd like to see a fascinating article and series of pictures about Owney's restoration that was completed just in time for his big day on Wednesday, go to The Washington Post's "Owney the dog's extreme makeover."

Owney's tale is a dog's verson of the American Dream, how a poor mutt who came from nothing was able to charm and travel the world, the perfect ambassador for both the Postal Service and the value of animal adoption, and Postmarks can't wait to see him riding once again with the mail.

Fun ways to increase revenue: Cardstore.com

A couple of weeks ago, Postmarks kept hearing about this "great" new website (that shall remain unnamed) that, for a monthly fee, will make postcards out of your pictures, put the note that you want written on the back, and will address and send them to your selected recipients.

Voila! No more having to go out to the store, pick out a card, complete a hand-written message, find a stamp, and stick it in the mail. The promotion was that the first three postcards were free.

Sounds great, I thought. So I went to the website. That's where the execution of the plan didn't quite live up to the concept. The website had plenty of glitches even in the registration process, and I didn't feel secure entering my credit card information for what was supposed to be a free trial.

Hey, the Postal Service ought to do something like this, I thought; only make it so that it works.

To my surprise, I discovered that it already does. It is super easy to use, cheap, and loads of fun for both the sender and the recipient.

Hence, the idea for a regular column was born. On a regular basis, Postmarks is going to present and review new ways that people can use Postal products.

Your ideas are always welcome! Please let us know of any sites, business, or products that you come across that support the Postal Service in fun and relatively inexpensive ways.

Entry 1: Cardstore.com



You can get to cardstore.com in a number of ways: you can go through the front page of usps.com (which next week, will become uspseverywhere.com), you can go directly to the cardstore.com website, or you can click here.

After you create an account, you'll have access to an address book that stores your recipients' information and a permanent shopping cart that lets you store your creations until you're ready to order and send them.

The cards are made with 100% recycled paper.

It said on the USPS website that cardstore.com has a birthday reminder tool, but so far, I have been unable to locate it on the site.

There are all kinds of cards and postcards at cardstore.com, and some of the most popular are what got me looking in the first place: the ones where you can use you own pictures. There are photo postcards, regular cards, and thank you cards.

I chose the photo postcards and decided to make two of them to send to some family members who had recently visited.

To sign up for an account, upload my photos, write my messages, and type in the recipients' info took less than 10 minutes.

Immediately after making my order, I received a digital receipt that contained my order details and thumbnail pictures of the postcards I had ordered.

To create and send the two postcards, it cost me only $2.56, which included the postage. It would be hard to find two decent postcards and two stamps for less than that, much less print out two color pictures, too.

I created and purchased the cards late on a Wednesday afternoon. They arrived at their destination across the country the following Monday, which really is less than a three-business-day transaction completion.

The recipients were thrilled to get them. I asked them to take a picture of one front and back and email it back to me and to give me a critique of how they looked.

Here's the front of one of the postcards:

Here are some of the remarks from one of the recipient, who is the wife of the handsome fellow in the picture:

These postcards are so neat! I need to make a couple remarks about what you see, though.

The postcard is not distorted but when I took the picture with my camera it came out a little distorted.

 It looks as though the photo got scratched or something before it finished drying. There is a large area up behind him where the blinds are. Also lower, just to the right of his arm resting on the sofa. The third area is scraped worse, and that is through his knee and his grandson's (the dog's) body.

These flaws look as though they were done in developing and not with the pictures you submitted.

The print on the back of the card is distorted, but that isn't from the postcard. Apparently I didn't get the setting on my camera just right before taking the picture.

Thanks again. I love these. Now they go on our fridge.

And thank you, Madame Tester, for your valuable critique.

Here's the back of the postcard:

Overall, I would rate this purchase as a positive one. I didn't like that the pictures looked a bit scratched, but it was so easy to do, was extremely inexpensive, arrived quickly, and the recipients thoroughly enjoyed them. I'll definitely do that again very soon.

COUPON CODE: Cardstore.com emailed a coupon code to use for future orders. It is for 20% off of your entire order, and it's good until 8/3/11. The code is SAVE20EMAIL.



July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month

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Shall we dance?

From LD&D Specialist Matilda Johnson:

Back by Popular Demand

Ever been to a party, picnic, or family outing where everyone around you was doing the latest line dances but you were bashfully standing nearby because you didn’t have a clue?  Well, that no longer has to be you.  You could be the leader on the dance floor.

The Life Work Planning Center has arranged for Luellen Lucas, Dance Instructor, to teach us the latest line dances on Tuesday, July 26, 2011, from 12 noon until 1:00 p.m. in Room 277 of the Birmingham Main Post Office.   We have limited space, so please call (205) 521-0075 to enroll.

Think about how confident you can look on the dance floor as well as the exercise you can get in an hour.

We hope to see you there!

Birmingham Passport Fair this Saturday

If you are planning to travel outside of the United States in the near future, you're going to need a passport, even if you're just taking a cruise or a short trip over one of our borders. Starting in June 2009, travelers regardless of their mode of travel are required to present a passport for all travel outside of and re-entry into the United States. 


And knowing how long such things usually take to get processed, it would be a good idea to work on acquiring a passport with plenty of time to spare before you are scheduled for departure.


The Alabama District is here to help you get prepared. On Saturday, June 16th from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., there will be a passport fair at the Birmingham Main Post Office.


The address is 351 24th Street North, Birmingham, AL 35203.

Here is what you are required to bring:

1. Passport fee (payable to the US Department of State). $110 for adults, $80 for children under 13. If express mail return service is desired, $12.72 must be added to the US State Department fee.


2. $25 Execution fee (payable to Postmaster).


3. Passport photos are available on site for $15. Cash, money orders, personal checks, and debit cards will be accepted. If not purchasing photos, all applicants must bring 2 photos (2x2).


4. You must bring these two forms of identification: a certified birth certificate that includes an official seal OR a naturalization certificate AND a current driver's license or state id card.


Documentation must accompany all applications. It will be returned after the passport is processed.


All applicants must be present in person, INCLUDING MINORS. Both parents must be present for a child's application.

Let's all BURRP together

Are you throwing away money? If you don't recycle your old newspapers, magazines, catalogs, unwanted mail, or used printer paper (any color), you are tossing what could be a significant source revenue right into the garbage can.

Every year, Americans buy 62 million newspapers and throw away about 44 million of them. The result is that we waste our trees, fill up our landfills, and miss out on income opportunities. Currently, recycling facilities pay $125 per ton (2,000 pounds) for recyclable paper, but when a majority of paper is being dumped rather than prepared for re-use, that money goes unclaimed.

Postmarks first admiringly wrote about the BURRP program that was underway in the Tampa, Florida area back in March (you can click here to read the original post). BURRP stands for Bring UR Recyclable Paper (which, while not being the best use of the English language, is one of the better postal acronyms). Employees in Tampa were encouraged to do just that so that their used paper could be added to the postal pile that would then be purchased by a recycling company. In one year, they generated $250,000 in revenue.

Now, Postmarks is proud to announce that the Alabama District is participating, too. BURRP containers have been set up in employee areas of the plants, employees at these facilities have been provided BURRP bags in which to transport their materials from home, and every Friday has been designated as BURRP  Friday.

Yes, that does have a funny ring to it, and you can join in on the laughter, too, when you bring in that paper from home.

Right now, the BURRP containers are only at the larger facilities, but every employee can participate simply by bringing in their paper and adding it to the postal recycling mix at their own post office.

NOTE: please don't bring anything that has been in contact with food or other contaminants).

Here are some motivating facts and figures 

• With recyclable paper being worth $125 per ton, that means that each magazine or newspaper that you bring in (the average weight of both is about one pound) is worth about six cents.  
• Americans use about 680 pounds of paper per person each year.
•  The average household throws away about 13,000 pieces of paper each year.
•  If we recycled just half of the newspapers that we purchase, we would need 3,200 fewer garbage trucks to pick up our trash.
•  Recycling one 6-foot stack of newspapers saves the life of one 35-foot-tall tree.
•  Recycling a ton of newspaper saves 17 trees.
• Every ton of recycled paper saves approximately 4 barrels of oil, 4,200 kilowatt hours of energy, 7,000 gallons of water, and enough energy to heat and air-condition the average North American home for almost 6 months.

HUNTSPEX

What is HUNTSPEX? If you're an Alabama stamp collector, you know the answer, and if you're into all things stamp, HUNTSPEX was the place to be.

On June 4-5, the 44th annual Huntsville Philatelic Exposition was held at the University of Alabama at Huntsville's Beville Center.



First day of issue: May 4, 2011

This year's theme honored the 50th anniversary of America's first manned space flight, which was perfect for the Rocket City. On May 5, 1961, Alan B. Shepard, Jr. flew the Mercury-Freedom 7 for 15 minutes and 28 seconds.

Billed as North Alabama's Biggest Stamp Collector's Marketplace, the show, which was sponsored by the Huntsville Philatelic Club, was two days of stamp-filled fun for enthusiasts of all ages.

   

The expo featured stamp exhibits, 11 stamp dealers who made appraisals and bought and sold stamps, and, of course, a United States Postal Service Station that was staffed by employee volunteers and USPS Diversity Team members. Pictured above are USPS employees Sharon Shew and Linda Smith working hard to keep up with the demand for stamps.

"Both Sharon and Linda have staffed our show in prior years, and they always bring all of the new issues from the past year for collectors to catch up with. We love them!" wrote Huntsville Philatelic Club Secretary Arthur Cole.

For the event, the Huntsville Philatelic Club also created a commemorative envelope, a pictorial postmark for each day of the show (pictured below), and a special commemorative sheet that was free to the lucky first 100 participants.

Postmarks would like to thank Huntville Philatelic Club President Heinrich Hahn and Secretary Arthur Cole for sending us the pictures and information about the fabulous event. If you would to join the club or learn more about it, click here to visit their website.