WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service has launched a new mobile application for iPhone users that allows them to use the device’s camera to scan barcodes on shipping labels for quick, easy and convenient tracking of their packages and other mail.

Danny Thomas Immortalized

LOS ANGELES — The United States Postal Service has unveiled a commemorative Forever Stamp honoring legendary entertainer Danny Thomas, the founder of renowned St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The unveiling took place at a star-studded gala in Los Angeles this past weekend to celebrate Thomas’ 100th birthday and the St. Jude’s 50th anniversary.

New Mexico Turns 100

SANTA FE, NM — The United States Postal Service today delivered one of the nation’s highest honors to New Mexico with the issuance of a commemorative Forever Stamp recognizing the state’s 100th anniversary.

USPS Offers Stress-free Returns

WASHINGTON – What to do with the unwanted holiday gifts that have found their way under your tree? The Postal Service has a range of products and services that make it quick, easy and hassle-free to send back the boots that don’t fit, the duplicate copy of your favorite author’s latest book, or the sweater you’ll never wear.

In 1959, the Navy submarine USS Barbero fired a Regulus guided missile that carried 3,000 letters towards the naval auxiliary air station in Mayport, Florida.  Postmaster General Arthur A. Summerfield proclaimed as “of historic significance to the peoples of the entire world,” the Navy submarine USS Barbero fired aguided missile carrying 3,000 letters towards the naval auxiliary air station in Mayport, Florida. Racing along at about 600 miles per hour, the guided missile traveled the more than 100 miles from the deck of the submarine off the coast of Florida to the air station in about 22 minutes. The letters, in special commemorative envelopes, were all from the Postmaster General to leading government officials and prominent citizens with a special interest in the Post Office Department.”Before man reaches the moon,” Summerfield was quoted as saying, “mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to England, to India or to Australia by guided missiles.” History proved differently, but this experiment with missile mail exemplifies the pioneering spirit of the Post Office Department when it came to developing faster, better ways of moving the mail.
The 1959 event was widely-publicized as the “first official missile mail” to distinguish it from earlier rocket flights. The earliest known unofficial transportation by rocket of U.S. Mail took place on February 23, 1936, when two rockets transported mail about 2,000 feet across a frozen lake towards the Hewitt, New Jersey,
Post Office, from Greenwood Lake, New York. The rockets crash-landed before reaching their destination and slid along the ice; the postmaster of Hewitt obliged by removing the two bags of mail and dragging them the rest of the way to the Post Office.

Earnings will be $1.10 a share for the period that ended in November, FedEx said late yesterday. The shares rose $2.36, or 2.7 percent, to $89.88 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the highest close since September 2008.

FedEx Corp. said its fiscal second- quarter profit exceeded its forecast as international and ground shipments rose, bolstering economists’ assessments that a global recovery is under way.

Free access to 100 percent recyclable Priority Mail and Express Mail packaging supplies… deliverable at zero cost to your doorstep is a popular feature.   In fact, the USPS is the only shipping and mailing entity in the US certified to be Cradle to Cradle™ green packaging for its impact to the environmental and human health standards.  In fact, they eliminated over 15,000 tons of carbon emissions last year. That’s equal to a year’s worth of driving for 2,747 average vehicles.

USPS.com/Green

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://mailingservicecenter.com/220/products-services/usps-fedex-or-ups-best-deal-on-overnight-shipping/feed/ 46 http://mailingservicecenter.com/163/postal-shipping-trivia/motto-misnomer/ http://mailingservicecenter.com/163/postal-shipping-trivia/motto-misnomer/#comments Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:34:29 +0000 MailingServiceCenter http://mailingservicecenter.com/?p=163 The California rain storms today brings to mind a motto misnomer that most people are familiar with.   But actually, the US Postal Service indeed does NOT have an official motto.  It is however, often incorrectly quoted as…

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”

The small part that is true about the misquoted creed is that it’s merely a large inscription on the front of New York City’s James Farley Post Office as shown below.   If you’d like a closer look so you can better read the inscription for yourself, here is the full blown photo…enjoy!

James Farley Post Office (Wikipedia 2009)

But this Postal Service fable has little known historic origins. The original passage comes from Herodotus‘ Histories (Book 8, Ch. 98) and “describes the faithful service of the Persian system of mounted postal messengers under Xerxes I of Persia.” (Wikipedia)

It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed. (trans. A.D. Godley 1924)

For many who are more familiar with modern connotations of the word “postal”…it may be difficult for them to believe a romanticized notion such as a Postal Service creed anyway. But alas, we still have Cliff Claven.

Kelp Forest Stamp

The Kelp Forest Exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium broadcast the U.S. Postal Service’s new postage stamp launch via live video (below) streaming today.

(photo & video source: USPS)

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Now you’re two steps ahead with holiday preparedness!