[press release]
Take a Picture with Charlie Brown Characters

WASHINGTON — The Postal Service invites America to share in a series of holiday-themed augmented reality (AR) experiences that bring the nation’s 160,000 blue Post Office collection boxes to life via smartphones. The invitation is part of a mailing that provides information on exciting postal products, services and key mailing dates to make this the most convenient holiday mailing season ever.

“Our Charlie Brown Christmas Forever stamps allow you to decorate your holiday mailings with Peanuts characters,” said U.S. Postal Service Consumer Advocate John Budzynski. “Thanks to our new AR app, you can take a photo with the Peanuts characters and share it on social media. Our mailing to the nation’s households is one part of our holiday advertising campaign that ranges from direct mail to television and print advertisements, to social media and digital promotion.”

The Peanuts photo opportunity debuts Nov. 23 through Nov. 25 and appears again in mid-December as part of the Postal Service’s rotating “Mailbox Miracle” experiences that runs until Dec. 28. Also, the 50th anniversary of the “Charlie Brown Christmas” TV special, from which the stamps are based, airs Mon., Nov. 30 at 9 p.m. on ABC. Prior to that, at 8 p.m., a one-hour retrospective special featuring numerous music performers airs.

Recommended holiday mail-by-dates can be found at this link.

The ‘Mailbox Miracle’ Experiences
Download the Postal Service’s AR app at Google Play or iTunes App Store. Stand next to one of nearly 160,000 blue mail collection boxes between Nov. 23 and Nov. 25, and again Dec.14 through Dec. 17, to see Charlie Brown characters surround Postal Service blue collection boxes to take a photo with the Peanuts gang to save on your camera phone or share on social media. As the nation counts down to the holidays, the Postal Service will be adding new experiences every few days.

Customers accessing usps.com can find blue collection boxes near their current location by visiting this link and clicking the “Post Offices and Approved Postal Providers” icon. Scroll down to collection boxes and then enter a ZIP Code or address.

Starting Nov. 23 through Dec. 28 these exciting “Mailbox Miracle” seasonal AR app experiences and holiday mailing tips will decorate your screens with nostalgic peppermints; toy airplanes circulating Christmas trees surrounded by boxes; customizable digital mailboxes to “TAKE A PIC AND SHARE” on social media; blinking holiday lights; wrapping paper; bows; dancing elves; and much more while sharing important information. Following are just a handful of the upcoming experiences:

• Gingerbread Box — A Gingerbread box grows from the edges of the collection box followed by peppermints, gumdrops and more decorations. The experience also allows you to order stamps.
• Tree Burst — Doors fly open and a Christmas tree springs out of the box. A toy airplane circles the tree, decorations fly onto it and a bunch of boxes slide under it. Click tap to order free boxes.
• Wrap it up — Wrapping paper covers the collection box and reminds you that the Postal Service delivers in select locations on Christmas Day. Click tap to schedule a pickup.
• Holiday Countdown — About a week prior to Christmas a live countdown reminds you that there’s only a short time left to ship packages. An icon in the experience lets you schedule a pickup.
• Yule Log — A mantle drops on the mailbox and a fire lights inside the fireplace. Then a puppy slides in front dressed in a Santa costume.

Delivering for the Holidays
The Postal Service expects to deliver more than 15.5 billion cards, letters, flats, and packages during the 2015 holiday season. In addition, it is projecting that approximately 600 million packages will be delivered between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve — an increase of 10.5 percent over last year’s volume.

In time for the holidays, the Postal Service will offer real-time delivery notifications – meaning customers who sign up for alerts at myusps.com will receive notification within a few minutes of the delivery scan for select packages.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.