THE BRIGHT SIDE
USPS To Celebrate 250 Years of Service.
This includes the small post office located in downtown Lake Geneva and the other smaller facilities in communities around the lake. These seemingly unimportant postal stops for almost all residents and visitors are staffed by the most wonderful, caring people. The postmaster in most of these, including Lake Geneva, is often staffed that way by them.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has a long history that began in 1775 when the Second Continental Congress established the United States Post Office in Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general, and the USPS became the first function of the new government. Franklin’s improvements to the mail system included: establishing more efficient colonial routes, cutting delivery time in half between Philadelphia and New York by using relay teams to travel day and night, and introducing the first-rate chart, which standardized delivery costs based on distance and weight.
Mail was originally transported by horse or stagecoach, but the railroad eventually allowed mail to be sent by train. Before mailboxes were introduced, people collected their mail from the local post office. In the 1960s, the USPS partnered with large mailers to help manage the large volumes of mail that businesses would drop off at the end of each day.
The U.S. Postal Service will release new stamps, one of which comes as part of a 32-page prestige booklet, to commemorate 250 years of service to the nation. The illustrated Forever stamps, 250 Years of Delivering, tell the story of a mail carrier making her daily rounds during a year in the life of the community she serves. The “Putting a Stamp on the American Experience” booklet highlights popular subjects that give the U.S. stamp program its remarkable range and depth. Exclusively available with this booklet are two sheets of a new Forever stamp featuring the first postmaster general, Benjamin Franklin. The 250 Years of Delivering stamps are a meticulously illustrated pane of 20 interconnected stamps that offers a bird’s-eye view of a bustling town. Each stamp is a frame of sequential art that tells the story of a mail carrier’s daily journey as she walks her route. Laid out in four rows of five stamps, the story progresses through the four seasons, from top-left to bottom-right.
As one of the first two honorees on U.S. stamps, Franklin is a longtime icon of the stamp program, appearing on more than 100 releases in the 178-year history of American stamps. Appointed postmaster general of the Colonies by the Second Continental Congress in 1775, Franklin appreciated that the postal system could help unite the Colonies — and the nation they became. As a printer, scientist, and diplomat, he played a monumental role in shaping American culture, and his postal legacy of adaptability and innovation continues to inspire the modern-day Postal Service.
When you walk into the Lake Geneva Post office, please fully realize you are walking into a special place and are being helped by special people. The Geneva Shore Report does not write that about a whole lot of people, for good reason.
