The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an independent agency of the United States government Independent agencies of the United States federal government are those agencies that exist outside of the federal executive departments . However, most independent agencies are part of the executive branch, with only a few being part of the legislative or judicial branches responsible for providing postal service Mail, or post, is a method for transmitting information and tangible objects, wherein written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post in the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution, known as the Postal Clause or the Postal Power, empowers Congress "To establish Post Offices and post Roads". Within the United States, it is commonly referred to as the "Post Office", "Postal Service", or "U.S. Mail".
Though postal services have existed on American territory before the United States' establishment, the USPS's first incarnation was established by Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for in Philadelphia Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the sixth-most-populous city in the United States in 1775 by decree of the Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met beginning on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met briefly during 1774, also in Philadelphia. The second Congress managed the. The Post Office Department The Post Office Department was the name of the United States Postal Service when it was a Cabinet department. It was headed by the United States Postmaster General was created from Franklin's operation in 1792 as part of the United States Cabinet The United States Cabinet is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States. Its existence dates back to the first American President, George Washington, who appointed a Cabinet of four people (Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson; Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton;, then was transformed into its current form in 1983 under the Postal Reorganization Act The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 abolished the United States Post Office Department, a part of the cabinet, and created the United States Postal Service, a corporation-like independent agency with an official monopoly on the delivery of mail in the United States. Pub.L. 91-375 was signed by President Richard Nixon on August 12, 1970.
Since its reorganization into an independent organization, the USPS has become self-sufficient and has not directly received taxpayer-dollars since the early 1980s with the minor exception of subsidies for costs associated with the disabled and overseas voters. However it is currently borrowing money from the U.S. Treasury to pay its deficits.[3] The decline of mail volume due to increased usage of e-mail has forced the postal service to look to other sources of revenue while cutting costs to maintain this financial balance.[4]
Employing 596,000 workers and over 218,000 vehicles, it is the second-largest civilian employer in the United States (after Wal-Mart Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large discount department stores and a chain of warehouse stores. In 2010 it was the world's largest public corporation by revenue, according to the Forbes Global 2000 for that year. The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, incorporated on October 31, 196) and the operator of the largest civilian vehicle fleet Fleet vehicles are groups of motor vehicles owned or leased by a business or government agency, rather than by an individual or family. Typical examples are vehicles operated by car rental companies, taxicab companies, public utilities, public bus companies, and police departments. In addition, many businesses purchase or lease fleet vehicles to in the world.[5] The USPS is obligated to serve all Americans, regardless of geography, at uniform price and quality. It has exclusive access to letter boxes A letter box, letterbox, letter plate, letter hole, mail slot, or mailbox is a receptacle for receiving incoming mail at a private residence or business. For the opposite purpose of collating outgoing mail, a post box is generally used instead marked "U.S. Mail." It competes against private package delivery Package delivery or parcel delivery is the shipping of packages or high value mail as single shipments. While the service is provided by most postal systems, private package delivery services have also existed in competition with and in place of public postal services services who cannot deliver to letter boxes and must leave packages by front doors if no one is available to receive them.
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Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:23:42 GMT+00:00
Minneapolis Star Tribune Cycling: The chief doctor of Lance Armstrong's US Postal Service -backed cycling team when the rider won five of his Tour de France victories has dismissed ...
