post office redirects here . for individual post offices see list of united states post offices . usps redirects here . for the non profit boating safety and education organization see united states power squadrons . united states postal service logo used since 1993 agency overview formed july 1 1971 ; 45 years ago 1971 07 01 washington d.c. u.s. 1 type independent headquarters 475 l enfant plaza sw washington d.c. 20260 0004 employees 625 113 493 381 career 131 732 non career as of january 13 2016 2 agency executives megan brennan postmaster general ronald a. stroman deputy postmaster general key document postal clause of the united states constitution website www.usps.com the full eagle logo used in various versions from 1970 to 1993 the united states postal service usps also known as the post office u.s. mail or postal service is an independent agency of the united states 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 agency of the u.s. government . the usps as of february 2015 has 617 254 active employees and operated 211 264 vehicles in 2014 . the usps is the operator of the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world . 2 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 the united parcel service ups and has part use with fedex express . 3 since the early 1980s many of the direct tax subsidies to the post office with the exception of subsidies for costs associated with the disabled and overseas voters have been reduced or eliminated in favor of indirect subsidies in addition to the advantages associated with a government enforced monopoly on the delivery of first class mail . 4 since the 2006 all time peak mail volume 5 after which congress passed the postal accountability and enhancement act 6 which mandated 5.5 billion per year to be paid into an account to fully prefund employee retirement health benefits a requirement exceeding that of other government and private organizations 7 revenue dropped sharply due to recession influenced 8 declining mail volume 9 prompting the postal service to look to other sources of revenue while cutting costs to reduce its budget deficit . 10 the usps lost 5.5 billion in fiscal year 2014 and 5.1 billion in 2015 and its revenue was 67.8 billion in 2014 and 68.9 billion in 2015 . 11 contents 1 history 1.1 foundations 1.2 19th century 1.3 20th century 2 current operations 2.1 five year plans 2.2 initiatives 3 budget 3.1 revenue decline and planned cuts 3.1.1 declining mail volume 3.1.2 internal streamlining and delivery slowdown 3.1.3 post office closures 3.1.4 elimination of saturday delivery averted 3.2 retirement funding and payment defaults 3.3 rate increases 3.4 reform packages delivery changes and alcohol delivery 4 governance and organization 5 universal service obligation and monopoly status 5.1 the postal regulatory commission s 2008 report on universal postal service and the postal monopoly 5.2 competitors 5.3 alternative transmission methods 5.4 criticism of the universal service requirement and the postal monopoly 6 law enforcement agencies 6.1 postal inspection service 6.2 office of inspector general 7 how delivery services work 7.1 elements of addressing and preparing domestic mail 7.1.1 delivery point validation 7.2 paying postage 7.2.1 postage meters 7.2.2 pc postage 7.3 other electronic postage payment methods 7.3.1 stamp copyright and reproduction 7.4 service level choices 7.4.1 general domestic services 7.4.2 bulk mail 7.4.3 extra services 7.5 international services 7.6 sorting and delivery process 7.6.1 types of postal facilities 7.6.1.1 automated postal centers 7.6.2 evolutionary network development end program 7.6.3 airline and rail division 7.6.4 parcel forwarding and private interchange 7.7 delivery timing 7.7.1 delivery days 7.7.2 direct delivery vs. customer pickup 7.7.3 special delivery 7.7.4 same day trials 7.7.5 forwarding and holds 8 financial services 9 employment in the usps 9.1 workplace violence 10 in fiction 11 see also 11.1 types of mail bags 12 references 13 further reading 14 external links history edit further information postage stamps and postal history of the united states foundations edit running pony logo used by the u.s. post office department before the creation of the usps in the early years of the north american colonies many attempts were made to initiate a postal service . these early attempts were of small scale and usually involved a colony massachusetts bay colony for example setting up a location in boston where one could post a letter back home to england . other attempts focused on a dedicated postal service between two of the larger colonies such as massachusetts and virginia but the available services remained limited in scope and disjointed for many years . for example informal independently run postal routes operated in boston as early as 1639 with a boston to new york city service starting in 1672 . a central postal organization came to the colonies in 1691 when thomas neale received a 21 year grant from the british crown for a north american postal service . on february 17 1691 a grant of letters patent from the joint sovereigns william and mary empowered him to erect settle and establish within the chief parts of their majesties colonies and plantations in america an office or offices for receiving and dispatching letters and pacquets and to receive send and deliver the same under such rates and sums of money as the planters shall agree to give and to hold and enjoy the same for the term of twenty one years . 12 the patent included the exclusive right to establish and collect a formal postal tax on official documents of all kinds . the tax was repealed a year later . neale appointed andrew hamilton governor of new jersey as his deputy postmaster . the first postal service in america commenced in february 1692 . rates of postage were fixed and authorized and measures were taken to establish a post office in each town in virginia . massachusetts and the other colonies soon passed postal laws and a very imperfect post office system was established . neale s patent expired in 1710 when parliament extended the english postal system to the colonies . the chief office was established in new york city where letters were conveyed by regular packets across the atlantic . before the revolution there was only a trickle of business or governmental correspondence between the colonies . most of the mail went back and forth to counting houses and government offices in london . the revolution made philadelphia the seat of the continental congress the information hub of the new nation . news new laws political intelligence and military orders circulated with a new urgency and a postal system was necessary . journalists took the lead securing post office legislation that allowed them to reach their subscribers at very low cost and to exchange news from newspapers between the thirteen states . overthrowing the london oriented imperial postal service in 1774 1775 printers enlisted merchants and the new political leadership and created new postal system . 13 the united states post office uspo was created on july 26 1775 by decree of the second continental congress . 1 benjamin franklin headed it briefly . before the revolution individuals like benjamin franklin and william goddard were the colonial postmasters who managed the mails then and were the general architects of a postal system that started out as an alternative to the crown post . the official post office was created in 1792 as the post office department uspod . it was based on the constitutional authority empowering congress to establish post offices and post roads . the 1792 law provided for a greatly expanded postal network and served editors by charging newspapers an extremely low rate . the law guaranteed the sanctity of personal correspondence and provided the entire country with low cost access to information on public affairs while establishing a right to personal privacy . 14 rufus easton was appointed by thomas jefferson first postmaster of st. louis under the recommendation of postmaster general gideon granger . rufus easton was the first postmaster and built the first post office west of the mississippi . at the same time easton was appointed by thomas jefferson judge of louisiana territory the largest territory in north america . bruce adamson wrote that next to benjamin franklin rufus easton was one of the most colorful people in united states postal history . it was easton who educated abraham lincoln s attorney general edward bates . in 1815 edward bates moved into the easton home and lived there for years at third and elm . today this is the site of the jefferson memorial park . in 1806 postmaster general gideon granger wrote a three page letter to easton begging him not to partake in a duel with vice president aaron burr . two years earlier it was burr who had shot and killed alexander hamilton . many years later in 1852 easton s son major general langdon cheves easton was commissioned by william t. sherman at fort union to deliver a letter to independence missouri . sherman wrote in the spring of 1852 general sherman mentioned that the quartermaster major l.c. easton at fort union new mexico had occasion to send some message east by a certain date and contracted with aubrey to carry it to the nearest post office then independence missouri making his compensation conditional on the time consumed . he was supplied with a good horse and an order on the outgoing trains for exchange . though the whole route was infested with hostile indians and not a house on it aubrey started alone with his rifle . he was fortunate in meeting several outward bound trains and thereby made frequent changes of horses some four or five and reached independence in six days having hardly rested or slept the whole way . 15 to cover long distances the post office used a hub and spoke system with washington as the hub and chief sorting center . by 1869 with 27 000 local post offices to deal with it had changed to sorting mail en route in specialized railroad mail cars called railway post offices or rpos . the system of postal money orders began in 1864 . free mail delivery began in the larger cities in 1863 . 16 19th century edit the postal system played a crucial role in national expansion . it facilitated expansion into the west by creating an inexpensive fast convenient communication system . letters from early settlers provided information and boosterism to encourage increased migration to the west helped scattered families stay in touch and provide assistance assisted entrepreneurs in finding business opportunities and made possible regular commercial relationships between merchants in the west and wholesalers and factories back east . the postal service likewise assisted the army in expanding control over the vast western territories . the widespread circulation of important newspapers by mail such as the new york weekly tribune facilitated coordination among politicians in different states . the postal service helped integrate established areas with the frontier creating a spirit of nationalism and providing a necessary infrastructure . 17 the post office in the 19th century was a major source of federal patronage . local postmasterships were rewards for local politicians often the editors of party newspapers . about 3 4 of all