Apples and orchards

Current operations[edit]

USPS service delivery truck

The United States Postal Service employs some 617,000 workers, making it the third-largest civilian employer in the United States behind the federal government and Wal-Mart.^[39] In a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court decision, the Court noted: "Each day, according to the Government's submissions here, the United States Postal Service delivers some 660 million pieces of mail to as many as 142 million delivery points."^[40] As of 2016, the USPS operates 31,585 post offices and locations in the U.S., and delivers 153.4 billion pieces of mail annually.^[2]

The USPS operates one of the largest civilian vehicle fleets in the world, with an estimated 227,896 vehicles,^[2] the majority of which are the easily identified Chevrolet/Grumman LLV (long-life vehicle), and the newer Ford/Utilimaster FFV (flex-fuel vehicle), originally also referred to as the CRV (carrier route vehicle). It is by geography and volume the globe's largest postal system, delivering 47% of the world's mail.^[2] For every penny increase in the national average price of gasoline, the USPS spends an extra US$8 million per year to fuel its fleet.^[41]

The number of gallons of fuel used in 2009 was 444 million, at a cost of US$1.1 billion.^[42] The fleet is notable in that many of its vehicles are right-hand drive, an arrangement intended to give drivers the easiest access to roadside mailboxes. Some rural letter carriers use personal vehicles. Standard postal-owned vehicles do not have license plates. These vehicles are identified by a seven-digit number displayed on the front and rear.

A fleet of post office vehicles at the James Griffith Station in Spring Branch, Houston

The Department of Defense and the USPS jointly operate a postal system to deliver mail for the military; this is known as the