United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service, also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, often abbreviated as USPS, is an independent agency of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the United States. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution.

The U.S. Mail traces its roots to 1775 during the Second Continental Congress, where Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general. The Post Office Department was created in 1792 from Franklin's operation, elevated to a cabinet-level department in 1872, and transformed in 1971 into the U.S. Postal Service as an independent agency under the Postal Reorganization Act.

The USPS employed 617,254 workers (as of February 2015) and operated 211,264 vehicles in 2014. The USPS is the operator of the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world. The USPS is legally obligated to serve all Americans, regardless of geography, at uniform price and quality. The USPS has exclusive access to letter boxes marked "U.S. Mail" and personal letterboxes in the United States, but still competes against private package delivery services, such as UPS and has part use with FedEx Express.

United States Post Office (Rhinebeck, New York)

The U.S. Post Office in Rhinebeck, New York serves the 12572 ZIP Code. It is located on Mill Street (US 9) just south of the intersection with NY 308 at the center of the village.

It is a stone Colonial Revival structure built in 1940, during the New Deal. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a native of nearby Hyde Park, took a personal interest in its design, as he did with other post offices in Dutchess County built during his administration. He chose a ruined historic house, whose stones were used in the post office, as its model, and spoke at its dedication. In 1989 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also a contributing property to the Rhinebeck Village Historic District.

Building

The post office is a one-and-a-half-story fieldstone building with a low-sloping jerkin roof shingled in asbestos treated to look like wood. It flares out over a porch that runs the length of the eastern (front) elevation. Two large brick chimneys rise from the ends, both next to a small dormer window on the north and south faces.

F. Bradford Morse Federal Building

The F. Bradford Morse Federal Building, formerly the United States Post Office is a historic post office at 50 Kearney Square in Lowell, Massachusetts.

The building was designed by George Augustine Daidy and was built in 1930. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The building was acquired by Middlesex Community College, which renovated the facility. It was renamed in honor of local Congressman and statesman F. Bradford Morse on December 8, 2006.

It is distinct from 1895 Lowell Post Office, which is also listed on the National Register.

See also

References

Post Office (disambiguation)

A post office is a facility that is part of a postal network.

Post Office may also refer to several national postal services, including:

It may also refer to:

See also

Post Office (novel)

Post Office is the first novel written by Charles Bukowski, published in 1971 when he was 50 years old.

Plot

Down-and-out barfly Henry Chinaski becomes a substitute mail carrier; he quits for a while and lives on his winnings at the track, then becomes a mail clerk. Chinaski drifts from place to place, surviving through booze and women, with his biting sense of humor and a cynical view of the world.

Writing and publication

An autobiographical account of Bukowski's years working as a carrier and sorter for the United States Postal Service, the novel is "dedicated to nobody". Post Office introduces Bukowski's autobiographical anti-hero, Henry Chinaski. It covers the period of Bukowski's life from about 1952 to his resignation from the United States Postal Service three years later, to his return in 1958 and then to his final resignation in 1969. During this time, Chinaski/Bukowski worked as a mail carrier for a number of years. After a brief hiatus, in which he supported himself by gambling at horse races, he returned to the post office to work as a sorter.

Post Office Ltd

Post Office Ltd (Welsh: Swyddfa’r Post Cyf.; Scottish Gaelic: Oifis a' Phuist) is a retail post office company in the United Kingdom that provides a wide range of products including postage stamps and banking to the public through its nationwide network of post office branches. The company is owned by the British Government's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, through Postal Services Holding Company Limited.

History

Post Office branches, along with the Royal Mail delivery service, were formerly part of the General Post Office and later the Post Office corporation. Post Office Counters Ltd was created as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Post Office corporation in 1986. After the Post Office corporation was renamed Royal Mail Group in 2001, Post Office Counters Ltd became Post Office Ltd.

Post Office Ltd has in recent years announced losses; a reported £102 million in 2006. This has raised many concerns in the media regarding Post Office Ltd's ability as a company to operate efficiently. Plans to cut the £150m-a-year subsidy for rural post offices led to the announcement that 2,500 local post offices were to be closed. This announcement resulted in a backlash from local communities that relied on the service.