[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.

Effective January 11, 2016, for letters up to 30 grams (1.06 ounces):

Destination Canada USA All Others

Old $0.85 $1.20 $2.50

New $0.90 $1.25 $2.60

At mid-November 2015 exchange rates, 90 cents Canadian is about 68 cents U.S.

More information: www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/prices/lp_pricesheet-e.pdf

[press release]

U.S. Postal Service Expects to Deliver More than 15 Billion Pieces of Holiday Mail and Packages This Year
USPS to handle more than half a billion packages this season – 10.5 percent volume increase
WASHINGTON — The Postal Service expects to deliver a total of approximately 15.5 billion cards, letters, flats, and packages during the 2015 holiday season. In addition, they are projecting approximately 600 million packages will be delivered between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, which is 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.

“Customers can count on the Postal Service and our more than 600,000 dedicated employees to deliver their holiday gifts, cards and letters,” said Megan J. Brennan, Postmaster General and CEO. “We have been investing in our infrastructure including package sortation equipment, new delivery vehicles and scanning technology to expand our capacity, improve operating efficiency and provide real-time visibility.”

Additionally, the Postal Service plans to hire 30,000 employees for the 2015 holiday season to meet the needs of its customers.

Following the success of the 2014 holiday season, the Postal Service will again deliver packages seven days a week in select major cities and high-volume areas beginning Nov. 29, for the four Sundays before Christmas. They expect to deliver on average approximately 5 million packages every Sunday during December.

Busiest Mailing and Delivery Days
The Postal Service predicts that Monday, December 14, will be the busiest mailing and shipping day for holiday packages, letters and cards. The busiest mailing day also is expected to be the Postal Service’s busiest day online with more than 7 million customers predicted to visit usps.com.

Monday, December 21, is expected to be the busiest delivery day for holiday packages, cards and letters. The Postal Service anticipates that more than 30 million packages will be delivered on the peak delivery day alone.

Holiday Advertising Campaign
The Postal Service launched its advertising campaign this week, featuring direct mail, television and print advertisements, as well as social media and digital promotions.

The 2015 campaign stresses the reliability and value the Postal Service offers for both consumers and businesses during the holidays. In addition to real-time delivery notifications and enhanced tracking, other highlighted services include the ability to order free Priority Mail boxes and request free next-day Package Pickup.

2015 Christmas Shipping Deadlines
For delivery in anticipation of Christmas, the Postal Service recommends keeping the following mailing and shipping deadlines in mind:

• Nov. 7 – APO/FPO/DPO Standard Post
• Dec. 8 – Priority Mail Express International
• Dec. 15 – Standard Post
• Dec. 19 – First Class Mail
• Dec. 19 – Global Express Guaranteed
• Dec. 21 – Priority Mail
• Dec. 23 – Priority Mail Express

[press release]
Canada Post ready for anticipated record-breaking parcel volume this holiday season

OTTAWA – With parcel volumes expected to hit record levels again this year, Canada Post is gearing up for its busiest season in history. The corporation has hired an additional 2,000 temporary workers, will again deliver on weekends in major urban centres starting in November and has doubled its capacity in transportation to deliver the holidays.

For the first half of the year, parcel volumes linked to e-commerce have grown 18% compared to the previous year and holiday-level parcel volumes were noted in the summer for the back-to-school season. During the months of November and December last year, Canada Post delivered more than 36 million parcels to Canadians.

Canada Post expects December 14th to be the busiest day of the year for delivery agents and retail stores across the country, with an anticipated 3,400 parcels delivered each minute while processing plants will peak a few days later (December 16th) with 1,500 parcels processed each minute.

Weekend deliveries
Starting in November, Canada Post will begin delivering parcels on weekends in major urban centres.

Seasonal workforce
More than 2,000 seasonal workers have been hired to complement the 49,000 delivery and processing employees.

Travelling and transportation
Each work day, Canada Post employees will travel some 1.5 million km delivering to 15.7 million addresses—a distance that would take a person to the moon and back twice.

Canada Post has also significantly increased its transportation network to ensure timely delivery.

About Canada Post
Canada Post is the country’s leading provider of electronic commerce and customer communication solutions. It reaches 15.7 million addresses, operates the country’s largest retail network, and offers affordable and reliable service with convenient pickup and return options for online shoppers. Together, Canada Post, Purolator Inc. and SCI Logistics offer market-leading end-to-end solutions for e-commerce shippers by leveraging the assets and expertise of the Canada Post Group of Companies.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, when post offices make a special effort to sell the postage stamp that raises funds for research.

The stamp currently sells for 60 cents. The additional 11 cents over the first-class postal rate helps fund breast cancer research at the National Institutes of Health and the Medical Research Program at the Department of Defense. The stamp has raised $80.9 million for breast cancer research since its creation in 1998.

In September, the Senate called for the stamp to continue on sale through 2019. However, the House version of the bill appears stalled in committee.

The Carl Junction, Missouri, post office hopes to retain its crown as the top seller of the Breast Cancer Research semi-postal stamp. Last year, “CJ” sold more than $49,000 worth of BRC stamps.

The Nevada, Missouri, post office is taking the challenge. Postmaster Julie Mader says she used to work with Carl postmaster Sharon Clark in another town. Mader says it’s more than just a fun competition, because everyone knows someone who has had breast cancer — such as Clark.

At the Gulfport, Mississippi, post office, employees are wearing pink and handing out pink cupcakes, cookies and candy to boost BRC stamp sales.

According to WLOX-TV, Mississippi has been tops in BRC stamp sales for the past three years.

“It’s our opportunity to give back to something that everyone has been impacted by,” Gulfport Postmaster Larry Delahunt told the station. “I don’t think there’s anyone you know that hasn’t been impacted by someone with breast cancer, so it’s personal and dear to almost everyone, including here at the post office.”

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, as a U.S. Senator from Vermont, has paralyzed the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, according to Linn’s Stamp News Washington correspondent Bill McAllister: Angered by threats to reduce mail service, Sanders has blocked all the president’s nominations to the Board of Governors. The Board is down to three Governors, with two of those terms expiring in December. Its rules require that FOUR presidentially-appointed governors must be present in order to vote on anything.

Bill’s story in Linn’s is here.

It’s something many collectors want. So we put the question to Mary-Anne Penner, acting director of the U.S. Postal Service’s Stamp Services department. Hear her answer here.

Transcript:

“Yes, they’re possible. Are we going to go completely to a soakable stamp? I’m going to tell you know, because the cost is expensive. But I have reached out to both printers and we’re going to see what we can do. You know, maybe we can do one edition a year. Let’s see what happens. You know, you’ve got to give me some time. I need to get true facts; I don’t want to rush into anything, and I want to see what other people are doing, I mean, other countries.”

In a public forum with collectors, acting Stamp Services chief Mary-Anne Penner was told that collectors need to be better educated about what stamps are available, and what collectors want when buying stamps. Penner replied that that is one of the top goals in 2016 for Lori Mazzone, who is now in charge of products and exhibitions for Stamp Services.

“We recognize the fact that training is needed,” Mazzone said. However, actual sales in post offices come under the Retail department, not Stamp Services. Penner says she is working with the VP in that area.

Penner also floated the possibilities of single-stamp sales and soakable stamps.

For the past year or so, post offices have been allowed to trade stamps with each other.

One of the first changes she made upon becoming acting director of Stamp Services, Mary-Anne Penner said, was dropping the phrase “limited edition” from marketing and promotion for USPS philatelic products. To her, a “limited edition” is in small quantities and probably sequentially numbered.

“We need to have stamps that we can sell singly, and there will be [some] in 2016,” said acting U.S. Postal Service Stamp Services chief Mary-Anne Penner in a public forum with collectors at APS StampShow 2015 in Grand Rapids.

In a public forum with collectors, acting Stamp Services chief Mary-Anne Penner said her department is looking at producing more soakable stamps. The collectors applauded. She cautioned that it won’t be every issue, and there won’t be huge numbers of these stamps.