Usps United States Postal Service Essay Research

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On July 26, 1775, members of the Second Continental Congress held a meeting in Philedelphia and they had all agreed that a Postmaster General should be appointed for the United States. That statement signaled the birth of the Post Office Department, which is now the second oldest department or agency of the United States. In this term paper I will discuss from the history to the funding path of the United States Postal Service (USPS). After Benjamin Franklin had came back from his trip to England he was appointed chairmen of a Committee of Investigation to establish a postal system. After the Continental Congress finished there meeting they decied that Benjamin Franklin would be the first Postmaster General. Richard Bache, Franklin s son-in-law, was named Comptroller and William Goddard was appointed Surveyor . Franklin served until November 7, 1776 and was said to have most of the credit fro establishing a good postal system. After the adoption of the Constitution in May of 1789, George Washington appionted Samuel Osgood of Massachusetts as the first Postmaster General under the Constitution, at that time there was 75 Post Offices and about 2,000 miles of post roads . Right now at present day the Postmaster General is Marvin Runyon. He controlls everything that happens in the United States Post Service. If he was to step down then Deputy Postmaster General Michael S. Coughlin would take his place. The Post Office Department had transformed into the United States Postal Service, an independent establishment of the executive branch of the government of the U.S. The new Postal service officially began on July 1, 1971 and the Postmnatser general had left the cabinet. After that the Postal Service received: Operational authority vested in a Board of Governors and Postal Service executive mangement, rather than Congress.  Authority to issue public bonds to finance postal buildings and mechanization. Direct collective bargaining between representatives of management and the unions. A new rate-setting procedure, built around an independent Postal Rate Commission . The whole mission for the United States Postal Service is stated in Title 39 of the U.S. Code: The Postal Service shall have its basic function the obligation to provide postal services to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondance of the people. It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render postal services to all communities .

The money that the United States Postal Service needs to run everything doesent come from the government, neither does it come from tax payers. But I asked Donna Collier the manager of the Colonial Heights Post Office and she stated that all of the USPS s money comes from selling stamps .If they don t make enough money selling stamps then they have to borrow and pay back with interest . About 113,000 pieces of mail are processed through the Colonial Heights Post Office a day. In 1994, the United States Postal Service processed about 177 billion pieces of mail, 580 million pieces a day. The United States Postal Service delivers more mail in one day than FedEx does in a year and more mail in 3 days than UPS does in a year . In 1994 the United States Postal Service had 728,944 total Career employees and 111,686 noncareer employees . Right now at the Colonial Heights Post Office here in Sacramento, CA they have 88 employees working. The Colonial Heights Post Office was built about 10 years ago and it is doing great today. Right now they arent having any troubles with the growth in population but they say that it is a little harder for places like Elk Grove and Laguana that have booming populations. You figure that it must be crazy at the Post Office at this time of year but it seems to be really easy for most workers except for the people that work inside the Post Office and have to deal with all of the People. The average salary for a Postal worker really depends. Right now they have 5 unions and 3 associations and mosyt workers make different amounts of money. Like for instance the casuals make about $7.00 an hour but then the rural carriers can make between $11.00 and $13.00 an hour. But Career Postal workers make about $18.00 an hour.Bibliography UPS s Website available at: http://www.usps.govCollier, Donna Interview. December 17, 1998Postal Website available at: http://www.angelfire.com/ca/usps.index.htmlPostal Website available at: http://www.usps.gov/history/anrpt97/intro_fin2.jtm