US PS E d u cati o n K it
Mailters Mat
Stamps S
tamps were first issued by the US Post Office Department in 1847. Before then, letters were brought to a post office and the postmaster wrote the postage – the cost of delivering a piece of mail – on the envelope. Postage could be prepaid or collected upon delivery. The first adhesive stamps were introduced by a private delivery service in New York. The Postal Service saw the wisdom of adhesive stamps and bought the entire company. Adhesive stamps then became the norm for prepaid postage.
The first US stamps (wiki caption ripoff) The first stamp issues were authorized by an act of Congress and approved on March 3, 1847. The earliest known use of the Franklin 5¢ is July 7, 1847, while the earliest known use of the Washington 10¢ is July 2, 1847.
Today, stamps still do the job of moving the mail. But US commemorative stamps do even more; they chronicle our history and culture. Commemoratives honor important people, places, events and icons in contemporary American life. Some interesting stamp subjects include The Simpsons animated TV series, Major League Baseball Sluggers, the birthday of the Barbie Doll, and of course, US presidents, state ratification dates and more.
Question: • Can you think of some people, places or events in US history that have found their way onto stamps?
Design your own stamp!
Turn page over
Barbie® is a registered trademark of Mattel, Inc. • Jackie Robinson TM, Estate of Jackie Robinson, c/o CMG Worldwide, Indpls, IN. Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball.
US PS E d u cati o n K it
USPS COMMUNITY CONNECTION
What do you think would make a good stamp? Commemorative stamps reflect certain aspects of American life. They frequently feature important people, special places and images of everyday life. Think about a subject that you feel deserves to be on a commemorative stamp.
Lesson Plan • Stamp Template WHAT MAKES UP A STAMP?
Mailters Mat
Verso Text Optional Title Perforation
Denomination/USA Year of issue
FRONT
BACK (VERSO) Many stamps include descriptions of the stamp subject on the back. This is called verso text. In the space to the right, write twoto-three sentences describing your stamp subject and the reasons why you feel it belongs on a US commemorative stamp.
Turn the stamp vertically if it fits your subject better
Follow the diagram of the stamp and create your own commemorative stamp in the space to the right. Be sure to include all the components!
US PS E d u cati o n K it
ZIP Codes M
ost of the mail in the 19th and early 20th centuries was social correspondence, letters between acquaintances, friends and family members. But after World War I the nature of the nation, the mail and means of moving it changed in a big way. Instead of agriculture, business and industry began to drive the economy. Trains and planes made moving the mail across the country much easier, so companies were able to conduct business on a much grander scale. As a result, the volume of mail doubled from 16,901,000 pieces in 1930 to 33,235,000 pieces in 1960. In response to the challenge of sorting such a massive amount of mail, the Postal Service established mail processing centers to serve all the post offices in a specific geographic zone. Once an area center was set up and constructed, it was assigned a numeric code. And subsequently, each post office served by a processing center received its own unique subcode. These codes were called the Zone Improvement Plan, or ZIP Codes!
Mailters Mat
Numeric Codes for Geographic Zones 0 = Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Army Post Office Europe, Fleet Post Office Europe 1 = Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania 2 = District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia 3 = Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Army Post Office Americas, Fleet Post Office Americas 4 = Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio 5 = Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin 6 = llinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska 7 = Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas 8 = Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming 9 = Alaska, American Samoa, California, Guam, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Palau, Washington, Army Post Office Pacific, Fleet Post Office Pacific
How a ZIP Code is built
1 2 3 4 5
The first digit of a ZIP Code represents a geographic cluster of states. New England state ZIP Codes begin with 0. These numbers increase as you move south and west. (see chart above)
Together the second and third digits represent a region or city within the cluster of states.
And the fourth and fifth digits represent specific post offices or postal zones within a city or locality.
US PS E d u cati o n K it
Mailters Mat
ZIP Codes The United States currently has roughly 42,000 ZIP Codes. The lowest ZIP Code in the country is 01001. What state includes that ZIP code? The highest ZIP Code is 99950. In what state is that ZIP Code located?
Take a close look at the ZIP Code map. Notice the different geographic clusters that have a common first number. Notice the twoor three-digit numbers noted on each state.
Can you figure out which states each of the envelopes below is destined for?
10 4 5 8
6 8 197
33124
22306
99546
2 5 9 18
5 8 2 10
07 07 5
76621
87 1 2 4
90036
45381
US PS E d u cati o n K it
Bar Codes W
ith close to 600 million pieces of mail processed everyday, many styles of handwriting and typography challenge the deciphering abilities of even the most discerning mailroom clerk. As mail volume increased in the 20th century, the Postal Service recognized the need for a single means of identifying a piece of mail so it only had to be read and interpreted once. A system called Optical Character Recognition (OCR) eliminates almost all of the questions facing mail sorters.
OCR is capable of reading all sorts of characters, whether they are typeset, hand printed or written in cursive. OCR recognizes numbers and letters, distinguishes between foreign and US mail and can read addresses written in foreign languages.
That’s Amazing!!
Mailters Mat
When a letter is sorted at a mail processing center, the address is scanned with Optical Character Recognition and is interpreted into a barcode that is printed on the front of the envelope. The bar code then becomes the identifying element for further sorting and delivery of mail. Optical Character Recognition is one of the most important technological developments for the movement of mail. OCR is used in many industries today, but its significance to the mail delivery system is one of its most important roles. Question: • Can you think of any other industries where barcodes are used? • If so, how are they used and why?
US PS E d u cati o n K it
Mailters Mat
Bar Codes
The bar code that the Post Office uses is called PostNET (which stands for Postal Numerical Encoding Technique). While the PostNET bar code is not meant to be read by humans, if you know the rules for how it is formed, you can read it – with a little patience. Let’s start by looking at a 5-digit ZIP Code.
Key: Digit-Line Codes
There are 32 lines in this PostNET bar code. The first and the last are always long and they mark the beginning and end of the code (this is useful for the machines, but is not really part of the code). The remaining 30 lines are broken up into 6 groups of 5 lines apiece. Notice that in each of these groups of 5 lines there are exactly 2 long lines and 3 short lines. Each of these groups represents a single number digit and where the 2 long lines appear tell you which digit is represented. The table below shows which digit is associated with the patterns of long and short lines. So, we can read our example in this way:
Activity: Read the following PostNET codes a. b. c.
ANSWERS:
a. 804214
b. 123455
c. 800273
Source: Bill Cherowitzo, Professor of Mathematics, University of Colorado at Denver
US PS E d u cati o n K it
Mailters
The Friendly Letter
Mat
The Letter Every letter has five parts that are always included. Use each part as it is shown here to write a perfect letter!
1 The Heading Goes Here 2 The Salutation Goes Here
1. The Heading: This includes the name and address of the person to whom you are writing. If you are writing to a friend, the friend’s name is all that is required.
3
2. The Salutation: It sounds like a big word – and it is – but
The Body
it just means the way you say “hello” in your letter. It is
Write Your Letter Here
most often “Dear,” followed by the name of the person to whom you are writing, and a comma after the name. Like this: “Dear Marianne,”.
3. The Body: The body of your letter is where you write all the news you want to share with your friend. It’s the best part of the letter!
4. The Closing: This is where you begin to say “good bye” in your letter. It is often the word “Sincerely” followed by a comma. Other closings are “Your friend,” or “Love,” or “Very truly yours,”.
5. The Signature: Sign your name right after the Closing.
4 The Closing Goes Here 5 Signature- Sign your name here
This is how you finish saying “Good bye” and this is how your friend knows the letter came from you!
1 Return Address
The Envelope
3
Goes Here
There are three pieces that must appear on every envelope to make sure your letter gets to where you want it to go.
2
1. Return Address: This is your address. Write it in the
PUT THE STAMP HERE
Mailing Address Goes Here
upper left corner of the envelope with your name on the first line, your street address on the second line and your city, state and ZIP Code on the third line.
2. Mailing Address: This is where you are sending your letter. Write it right in the center of the envelope, with the person’s name on the first line, their street address on the second line and their city, state and ZIP Code on the third line.
3. Postage: This is the postage stamp and it goes in the upper right corner of the envelope.
Write Your Own Letter!
Use the stationery sheet on the reverse side of this page to write a friendly letter to one of your parents or siblings. In your letter, tell them about the Mail Matters post office in your school or classroom and ask them to send you a letter through Mail Matters. Ask your parents or teacher for an envelope for your letter, and practice addressing the envelope as instructed above.