National Postal Workers Day is observed each year on July 1. It celebrates and recognizes postal workers and the hard work they put in to ensure your mail and deliveries get to you smoothly and on time. Did you know that in the United States, postal workers walk an average of four to eight miles a day, delivering letters and packages to our doorsteps?
There are approximately 490,000 postal workers in the U.S. alone who diligently work to deliver mail. The Postal Service Act gave birth to the Post Office Department, which later became a cabinet-level department and was then transformed by the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 into the United States Postal Service (USPS) as an independent agency. The USPS is authorized by the United States Constitution.
While the world may have embraced the advent of technology, postal services are still important for communication, especially in rural villages and small towns. The USPS is nothing without its postal workers who work hard to maintain the reputation and integrity of the institution they serve. Thus, National Postal Workers Day was established by the Seattle-area postal carriers to honor their fellow employees. These include but are not limited to service clerks who sell stamps and help people to pick up packages, mail sorters who physically sort mail to ensure they go to the correct addresses, the mail carriers who deliver the mail, and a vehicle operator who drives the vehicle carrying the mail.
This day also encourages people across the world to take a moment and appreciate their postal workers and express gratitude towards them. Sometimes, even in harsh conditions like extreme heat or cold, blizzards, rains, etc., they continue to ensure interrupted services. They are nothing short of everyday heroes and deserve our acknowledgment.