USPS.COM: Holiday Command Center Open 24/7

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Nov 30, 2012, 11:13 ET

Gifts, Stamps, Customized Postage a Click Away

Click-N-Ship video and photo gallery

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Americans did this more than 400 million times last year: visited usps.com.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121130/DC21776)

With the holidays just around the corner, usps.com will be as busy as ever. That's because it's the easiest way to accomplish your holiday shopping and shipping at home or on the go.

"This Post Office is always open, and with a click of your mouse, you can ship from your house — with free package pickup by our dedicated letter carriers," said Kelly Sigmon, vice president, Channel Access.

With Package Pickup, a carrier will pick up your shipment free during regular mail delivery if you're using an expedited service like Priority Mail, Express Mail, Global Express Guaranteed or Merchandise Return services.

Other services on usps.com to make the holidays simpler:

Click-N-Ship — Using a home or office computer, customers can pay for postage, print shipping labels and schedule free package pickups. Check out this cool video.
Track & Confirm — Enter your label number to see the status of your item. If you shipped with Express Mail, you'll get point-by-point tracking details. If you used another service — Delivery Confirmation, Certified Mail, Domestic or International Registered Mail — you'll see when it went out for delivery.
Calculate Postage — Whether your letter or package is domestic or international, the Postage Price Calculator provides the right amount of postage for a variety of Express Mail and Priority Mail services. Don't know the package's weight? Weigh yourself on a bathroom scale and weigh yourself again holding the package. Calculate the difference. It's that simple.
Post Office Locator — Find Post Offices by typing in a city and state or ZIP Code. You'll also see other locations such as grocery, convenience and other stores selling postal products and services.

At usps.com/shop, customers can order this year's Santa and Sleigh or Holy Family Forever stamps as well as shipping supplies, philatelic items and holiday gifts, including high-quality framed and canvas artwork, books, puzzles, games, totes and collectibles — all from the Postal Store.

Looking for an educational holiday gift? Consider the 2012 Stamp Yearbook or the 2012 Holiday White House Ornament.

With ZIP Code Lookup, you can find all those missing ZIP Codes for your holiday cards and personalize them with holiday stamps or Customized Postage. Or, Create Customized Holiday Cards via third-party websites. These sites help you create not only personalized greeting cards but also envelopes, postcards and a holiday newsletter.

Customers going out of town for the holidays can have their mail held from the Hold Mail Service till they return.

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 — 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office™ Boxes. The Postal Service™ receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 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 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, Oxford Strategic Consulting ranked the U.S. Postal Service number one in overall service performance of the posts in the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

Follow the Postal Service on www.twitter.com/USPS and at www.facebook.com/USPS

SOURCE U.S. Postal Service