Postal Service marks 250th anniversary with stamps honoring Ben Franklin and postal carriers
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Franklin was chosen as the first postmaster general because he had previously served in the British postal service for North America, including as co-Postmaster General from 1757 until 1774.
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A book of 20 Franklin stamps is exclusively being sold with a commemorative 32-page booklet titled 'Putting a Stamp on the American Experience.' The new Forever stamp features a redesigned, modern interpretation of an 1875 reproduction of the original 5-cent stamp released in 1847.
President George Washington was featured on the first 10-cent stamp.
The USPS has also released a commemorative sheet of 20 interconnected stamps, dubbed '250 Years of Delivering,' that portray a mail carrier making her rounds throughout a year. The stamps were illustrated by renowned cartoonist Chris Ware.
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Steiner has lauded the Postal Service for its history and recently voiced support for keeping the USPS as a self-financing, independent agency of the executive branch. Last week, in a video message to employees, Steiner said he opposed the idea of privatizing the Postal Service, contrasting with
'I do not believe the Postal Service should be privatized or that it should become an appropriated part of the federal government,' Steiner said.
He said his goal as postmaster was to meet the agency's 'financial and service performance expectations' under the current structure.
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