Santa and Frosty Celebrate Today’s Holidays

Self-Service Kiosks Offer Convenience to Customers

What:
Santa and Frosty will welcome kids of all ages during demonstrations of the Automated Postal Center at the Elgin Post Office holiday open house.

When:
Saturday, December 8, 2007
8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Where:
Elgin Post Office, 66 Grove Court, Elgin, IL 60120

Who:
Santa Claus
Frosty the Snowman
Mike Mayes, Elgin Postmaster
Julie Buckley, Supervisor Customer Service, Elgin Post Office

Note:
Automated Postal Centers (APCs) in Post Office lobbies are a real help for the holidays. The ATM-like kiosks accept credit or debit cards and can handle about 80 percent of typical postal transactions — like weigh packages and buying postage for Express, Priority, First-Class and Parcel Post mail.

Consumer — Convenience. Open and ready at a time when it’s convenient for busy shoppers, harried families and anyone wanting to get holiday baking done before a stop at the Post Office.

Business — Spreadsheets and sales calls don’t wait for the holidays. Small business owners, especially, need to have a lot more flexibility to do business this time of the year. The APC fits into any business owner’s schedule.

Today’s Holidays Need Today’s Mail: This year, the Postal Service is giving customers something they can really use. More time. From flat-rate boxes and free package pickup to environmentally friendly packaging and military Care Kits, the Postal Service plans on helping make the holidays a little brighter.

Contacts:
Tim Ratliff, 630-260-5606, cell 630-853-8926, timothy.d.ratliff@usps.gov
Julie Buckley, 847-741-0725, Elgin Post Office

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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/news.

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.