USPS Office of Inspector General

People love lists.

Our annual blog listing the top ten postal stories of the just-completed year is always a reader favorite — even if a little later than usual this year. This year, as in many past years, we had plenty of topics to choose from. What made this year a little unusual was just how many prominent postal stories were in the news — and for a long time. We expect to hear more about several of the topics below in 2019.

The U.S. Postal Service has an obligation to ensure the safety of its employees by creating and maintaining a violence-free work environment. Our recent audit work confirmed that the Postal Service has a comprehensive program to identify, review, report, and address employee assaults.

Postal Service employees who have been assaulted can take one or more of the following actions based on the circumstances:

There was a time when, if you lived in Spokane, Bing Crosby might have sold you stamps across a post office counter. If you lived in Chicago, Walt Disney might have delivered your mail – or maybe Rock Hudson, if you were just up the road in nearby Winnetka. More recently, before he starred in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Steve Carell might have put letters in your mailbox if it was in rural Massachusetts. And have you ever wondered where the Grammy-winning John Prine got the title for his album The Singing Mailman Delivers?