Facts about the USPSThe United States Postal Service (USPS) is a remarkable organization that does not get nearly the credit it truly deserves. Besides the fact that is only costs 47¢ (or less) to send a letter 3,000 miles across the county, the organization has provided exemplary service for 241 years since Benjamin Franklin was named the first Postmaster General.

Enormous mail order companies have been built on the backbone of the USPS while today’s ecommerce enterprises rely on the Postal Service to expedite deliveries to customers nationwide.

Here are five interesting tidbits about the USPS (excerpted from a section titled Postal Facts on the USPS website):

  1. The Postal Service delivers to nearly 155 million addresses, including every single state, city, and town in the country.
  1. UPS and FedEx rely on the USPS to deliver millions of their ground packages and the USPS leverages UPS and FedEx for air transportation.
  1. The Postal Service employs more than 7.5 million people. If it were a private sector organization, it would hold the 43rd spot in the 2015 Fortune 500.
  1. Through a special Carrier Alert Program, letter carriers help monitor the well-being of elderly and disabled customers by notifying emergency services if they notice unusual accumulations of mail.
  1. The USPS’s operations rely on the sale of postage, products, and services. No tax dollars are used for operating expenses.

For more interesting facts about the USPS, visit https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-facts/top-12-things-to-know.htm