Free Republic

Dear Postal CustomerWith the holiday season upon us, I would like to take this opportunity to say "HAPPY HOLIDAYS" [snip]

Following a fierce investigation, two suspects have been arrested in connection to a bomb scare in Marshall County. After the Kingston police found two homemade bombs within blocks of each other yesterday, authorities say a total of 28 bombs were recovered. Friday morning near the corner of Second and Chickasaw, Kingston police and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol bomb squad diffused two homemade bombs found in mailboxes. A U.S. Postal worker noticed a yellow liquid oozing from one of the boxes and then notified authorities. Today, police tell KTEN they found several more explosive devices at a house on the 500...

WASHINGTON, May 20 - The F.B.I. would gain broad authority to track the mail of people in terror investigations under a Bush administration proposal, officials said Friday, but the Postal Service is already raising privacy concerns about the plan. The proposal, to be considered next week in a closed-door meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee, would allow the bureau to direct postal inspectors to turn over the names, addresses and all other material appearing on the outside of letters sent to or from people connected to foreign intelligence investigations. The plan would effectively eliminate the postal inspectors' discretion in deciding...

Candle-makers were none too happy with the invention of the light bulb, for obvious reasons. Ditto blacksmiths with the invention of the automobile. So you can imagine how the post office must feel today about cheap, long-distance rates, faxes and email. While candle-makers and blacksmiths still roam among us today, like the buffalo their numbers have greatly diminished since the country's founding years. I assume they fought the tide of progress tooth-and-nail, but in the end their fate was inevitable. So, too, is the fate of the once great United States Postal Service. Its demise is a foregone conclusion. The...

NEW YORK -- Authorities believe a U.S. postal employee in custody here helped draft a letter of introduction that may have been used by two men who posed as journalists to assassinate a leading opposition figure in Afghanistan last fall, according to a U.S. official familiar with the case.Click here for full Washington Post article

U.S. Postal Service Ronald Reagan Stamp Unveiling Tuesday, November 9th 11:30 a.m. on the South Lawn On November 9th, the 15th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the USPS is unveiling their newest stamp commemorating President Ronald Reagan. Special guests will include Mrs. Reagan, U.S. Postmaster General John E. Potter and Librarian of Congress, Dr. James Billington. Stamps will be available for purchase starting in mid-February 2005. Visitors are welcome to stand and watch the unveiling ceremony on the Library’s replica South Lawn. This is a free event, no reservations are required.

U. S. postal regulations require that a person (with the exception of a President) must be dead at least 10 years before a stamp honoring him is issued. I believe exceptions have been made before for Sir Winston Churchill and Walt Disney. Given the late Bob Hope's accomplishments in stage, film, radio, and television, plus his tireless work entertaining our troops from World War II to Desert Storm, I recommend that fellow FReepers contact the U. S. Postal Service through the link below and request that a stamp commemorating Bob be issued as soon as possible, thereby making an exception...

The commission President Bush established to analyze the workings of the U.S. Postal Service will issue its recommendations for reform on July 31. This is the first such presidential commission since the Johnson administration, and it is long overdue. The need for reform is critical because the Postal Service's revenue base is eroding rapidly; the institution is a train wreck waiting to happen. Last year, for the first time in recent history, the volume of first-class mail—which constitutes more than 57 percent of the Postal Service's revenue—actually declined. Standard mail dropped even more precipitously. Not surprisingly, the Postal Service's financial...

Filed at 10:04 a.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush signed an order Wednesday creating a commission to explore the U.S. Postal Service's mission and operations during a time of increasing competition from private companies and challenges from new technology, including electronic commerce over the Internet. The commission, which would include members of the business community, would make recommendations to President Bush sometime next year, according to Postal Service official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The panel's recommendations -- depending on their magnitude -- could result in the first major overhaul of the Postal Service since the early 1970s,...

What is good for the U.S. Mint is evidently not acceptable to the U.S. Postal Service. A post office in Montgomery north of Houston recently learned that it had to remove a framed poster of the national motto "In God We Trust" because it violates postal regulations. The donated 16-by-20-inch poster, which is matted and secured in a gold frame, displays "In God We Trust" in large white letters over the American flag colors. It states at the bottom that the "national motto was approved by Congress and President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956." Retired chemical engineer Frank P. Williamson...