Thanksgiving Dinner in a Box

Flat Rate Boxes Offer Recipe for Holiday Cheer

WASHINGTON—With Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes from the U.S. Postal Service, if the recipe fits, the meal ships—including Thanksgiving dinner.

Using recipes of common canned and dried foods found at the grocery store, customers can ship all the items needed to prepare a traditional holiday mail using a Priority Mail Flat Rate Box.

“Ask anyone who is away from home during the holidays and the one thing missed most is that home-cooked holiday meal,” said Gary Reblin, vice president, Expedited Shipping. “Whether the turkey dinner that only mom can make or grandma’s special pumpkin pie that disappears almost as fast as it’s served, nothing brings in the season like the delicious tastes of holiday meals. And with Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes, flavors of home are only a Post Office away.”

Flat Rate Boxes, only from the Postal Service, let you ship nearly any gift up to 70 lbs. for a low Flat Rate to anywhere in the country. Four box sizes are available to fit your gifts (and recipes), with shipping starting at just $4.95. The Postal Service will even pick up your Flat Rate shipments for free, saving you a trip to the Post Office.

“Order in – and we’ll take out,” added Reblin. “The Postal Service will deliver free shipping supplies to your door and pick up your packages for free. This holiday season, let us do what we do best – pick up and deliver mail and packages.”

Free package pickup is available using the Postal Service’s website, usps.com. Request a pickup online and your letter carrier will pick up packages during mail delivery the next business day. Unlike with other shipping companies, there is no fee for this service.

Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes also can serve up holiday meals to military men and women stationed overseas. A discount is available when using the largest Priority Mail Flat Rate Box to ship to military addresses. The domestic mail price for the Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box is $13.95, but for packages to APO/FPO military addresses overseas, the price is reduced to only $11.95.

“Care packages from home are a big morale boost,” added Reblin. “The Postal Service is proud to offer this discount and to support our troops overseas.”

For recipe ideas, fact sheets and more, visit the Postal Service’s interactive Holiday Press Room at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2009/holiday/hpr.htm , also see the Recipe Fact Sheet.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/welcome.htm.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 26th in the 2008 Fortune 500.