NALC BRANCH 709

Postal facts

Founded in 1889:
NALC is the union of city letter carriers employed by the U.S. Postal Service. Letter carriers delivered 203 billion pieces of mail last year, six days a week, to over 138 million homes and businesses in every city, suburb and town in America. NALC is affiliated with the AFL-CIO and with UNI, an international alliance of communications unions.

Fact of the Day: postage stamp with perforations
The first postage stamp with perforations was issued on February 24, 1857: the one-cent blue Benjamin Franklin. Originally issued in sheets on July 1, 1851, the stamp bore the inscriptions "U.S. Postage" and "One Cent." The picture on the stamp was modeled on the bust of Franklin by Jean Jacques Caffieri. Previous to that, people had to cut apart sheets of stamps.

While mail delivery in large cities began in 1863, no official uniforms were worn until after July 27, 1868, when Congress passed legislation authorizing use of uniforms by letter carriers.

Fact of the Day: postage stamp
The first postage stamps were issued for sale by the United States Postal Service in 1847. The 5-cent stamp depicted Benjamin Franklin and the 10-cent stamp depicted George Washington. Prior to this date, stamps were issued by private postal services.