Stafford Springs Rural Letter Carrier Becomes A Millionaire…

Postmaster Recognizes Jack Avery With Safety Council’s Million Mile Safe Driving Award

WHAT:
Rural Letter Carrier Jack Avery will be awarded the prestigious National Safety Council’s Million Mile Award for safe driving by Postmaster Jason A. Lambert.

WHO:
Mr. Avery, a 33-year veteran of the Postal Service, will receive a pin and plaque from the National Safety Council in a brief ceremony at the Post Office. Mr. Avery serves Rural Route 2, a 69-mile daily journey that includes 382 deliveries. Joining in the ceremony at that Post Office will be the Connecticut District Manager for the Postal Service, Edward F. Phelan, Jr., as well as Deborah Kendzior, the Manager of Post Office Operations in the District. Jeffery Taylor, the District’s Safety Manager, will also participate.

WHERE:
The Stafford Springs Post Office, 20 East Main Street, Stafford Springs CT 06076

WHEN:
Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 8 am

BACKGROUND:
"Most people overlook the fact that among their many duties, postal employees are also professional drivers. They regularly face driving conditions that demand uninterrupted concentration," said the postmaster. "There is no room for a misdelivery of safety when you are behind the wheel of a postal vehicle," said Mr. Lambert.

According to the National Safety Council, the Safe Driver Award is the trademark of the expert driver and is recognized as the nation’s highest award for professional safe driving.

Since the program was instituted in 1930, the millions of Safe Driver Awards issued attest to the professional driving skills of those drivers enrolled and their ability to avoid traffic accidents. The award rules are a yardstick by which drivers can measure their performance and by which supervisors can measure the performance of individual drivers. The program helps member companies, such as the Postal Service, to conserve skilled human resources, promote public goodwill, reduce operation costs, and eliminate expensive accident claims.

The Connecticut District of the Postal Service, serving more than 3.5 million customers through 218 post offices, employs more than 10,000 employees, including 731 rural letter carriers like Mr. Avery.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation, 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.