Post Office asks residents to please clear snow, ice

With more snow expected to blanket the region during the next couple days, one seasonal tool is expected to make its return at homes and businesses - the shovel.

To help letter carriers deliver mail, the Postal Service is asking customers to clear snow and ice from sidewalks, stairs and mailboxes.

"Snow and ice make delivery dangerous and slow," said Central Illinois District manager Peter Allen. "Maintaining a clear path to the mail box - including steps, porches, walkways and street approach - will help letter carriers maintain consistent delivery service."

Customers receiving door delivery should make sure their sidewalks, steps and porches are clear. Customers receiving curbside delivery should remove snow piles left by snow plows to keep access to their mailboxes clear for letter carriers. Delivery service may be delayed or curtailed whenever streets or walkways present hazardous conditions for letter carriers or when snow is plowed against mailboxes.

"The Postal Service curtails delivery only after careful consideration, and only as a last resort," says Allen. "Any curtailed mail is attempted the next delivery day."

Blue collection boxes also need to be kept clear for our customers to deposit their mail and for the Postal Service to collect the mail for delivery. Residents and businesses with collection boxes near their property are asked to keep them clear of snow and ice.

"We want our letter carriers to be safe," adds Allen. "We can only do this with the help of our customers."

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation: 152 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. With more than 31,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world's mail. If it were a private-sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 42nd in the 2012 Fortune 500. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for seven years and the fourth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.