The appointment of local postmasters was a major venue for delivering patronage jobs to the party that controlled the White House. The Post Office Department was created in 1792 with the passage of the Postal Service Act. Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general he also served a similar position for the American colonies. The USPS was founded by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1775, at the beginning of the American Revolution. History įurther information: United States Post Office Department and Postage stamps and postal history of the United States Mail' and personal letterboxes in the U.S., but has to compete against private package delivery services, such as United Parcel Service, FedEx, and DHL. The Post Office has exclusive access to letter boxes marked 'U.S. and operates under a universal service obligation (USO), both of which are defined across a broad set of legal mandates, which obligate it to provide uniform price and quality across the entirety of its service area.

The USPS has a monopoly on traditional letter delivery within the U.S. The USPS, as of 2021, has 516,636 career employees and 136,531 non-career employees. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the Constitution of the United States. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U.S., including its insular areas and associated states. The United States Postal Service ( USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S.

The full eagle logo, used in various versions from 1970 to 1993 Postal Clause of the United States Constitution.

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