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DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND COMMUNICATIONS
USPS NEWS Today
Friday | November 15, 2002
Quotable Quotes . . . "For the past 23 years, my whole livelihood has been based on the reliability of the U.S. Postal Service; and I have never once been disappointed in it. Letters have been delivered to me with only "Terry Marotta, Winchester, MA" on the envelope. Letters I mistakenly send out without stamps on them routinely come back to me, and within 24 hours. Once, even an unsealed envelope, addressed to no one at all and stuffed to bursting with checks I'd already ENDORSED came back! And that was in an envelope that, of course, I'd not meant to mail at all, but rather to bring to the bank and quickly deposit: Even that came back, its contents unmolested, in less than a day."
— Terry Marotta, syndicated columnist, in the Phoenixville News, Nov. 7, 2002
2002 HOLIDAY VOLUME PROJECTIONS. Volume projections for this year's holiday season will mirror that of last year. Americans will mail nearly 20 billion cards, letters, and packages this holiday season. The Postal Service's total average daily mail volume for all classes of mail exceeds 650 million pieces. Of that average, roughly 100 million are postmarked cards and letters. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, cancellations increase to about 150 million daily.
Americans typically address their greeting cards the weekend before Christmas. Monday, Dec. 16, is expected to be the busiest mailing day of the year for cards and letters with more than 280 million cards and letters being cancelled. Two days later, Wednesday, Dec. 18, is expected be the busiest delivery day of the year.
OPERATION DEAR ABBY SUSPENDED. The Operation Dear Abby program, founded by the newspaper advice columnist, has delivered mail to U.S. service members overseas during the holiday season for 18 years. This year, however, the Department of Defense suspended the program because of concerns about the risk of cards and letters being introduced into the mail system from unknown sources.
PWC CONSULTING IS NOW IBM. IBM has acquired PwC Consulting, the business consulting unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers. PwC has been the contractor for USPS's EXFC, PETE and other transit time measurement system projects. IBM is now the contractor.
LONDON'S OTHER UNDERGROUND. The BBC reported that a historic mail train that runs under London may close after 75 years of service. Britain's Royal Mail says that in its heyday the line, known as Mail Rail, carried four million letters a day. First proposed in 1855, the line was finally given the go-ahead in 1913, but the outbreak of World War I halted construction and the tunnels were used to store and protect art treasures from London's museums. Work on the line resumed in 1923 and the first trains began transporting mail four years later. The line has continued ever since, shuttling mail on small electric trains 20 miles from Paddington in west London to Whitechapel in the east. It is separate from the passenger subway system referred to as the "tube" or "underground." Cost of maintaining the line has become difficult for financially strapped-Royal Mail.
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USPS NEWS Today