WASHINGTON, July 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
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FRIDAY, JULY 6: ZIP CODES
Profile America — Friday, July 6th. This is a key week in postal history. The first stamps issued by the U.S. Post Office went on sale in 1847. A five-cent stamp pictured Benjamin Franklin, while one costing 10 cents honored George Washington. Before then, there were no uniform stamps —a haphazard system of private postal services around the country had issued their own. And in 1963, the Postal Service introduced the five-digit Zip Code to help speed mail to the proper destination. That year, Americans sent nearly 68 billion pieces of mail. Today, the Postal Service handles 170.5 billion pieces of mail annually. Profile America is produced by the U.S. Census Bureau: Measuring America—People, Places, and Our Economy.
Sources: Chase's Calendar of Events 2012, p. 341
National Postal Museum
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012, t. 1127
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov
SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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