A. Postmaster and Staff. The Postmaster is an elected official of the House of Representatives. The Postmaster's Staff is composed of 98 men and women who staff the stamp counters and the mail room. These people are responsible for the sorting, collection and delivery of all the mail that is received by the House of Representatives Post Office. If you have any questions or problems concerning your mail, please feel free to contact the business office of the House Post Office. All of the following are located at B-227 of the Longworth Building: B. What is the House Post Office? The House Post Of fice is not part of the United States Postal Service. Instead, the House Post Office was established specifically to take care of the Members of Congress and their staffs. This special treatment enables the House Post Office to provide the Members with services that otherwise would not be available. A list of these special services will be explained in full detail later in this brochure. C. Where is the House Post Office? The Postmaster's Office is located at B-227 of the Longworth Building. The telephone number is 225-3856 (around-the-clock service 7 days telephone charts, etc. This office will provide you with telephone books, This is also the office which will Also, Members can submit a week). provide postage on a large scale. their postage vouchers to Mary Bowman, in the Postmaster's Office, who will then provide the requested amount of stamps. The House Post Office also has four stamp counters where persons can purchase stamps, money orders, mail packages and letters, register and certify mail and insure mail. The stamp counters are located in the following buildings: Capitol Stamp Counter Rayburn Stamp Counter 2105 Rayburn HOB 225-6776 D. Longworth Stamp Counter Cannon Stamp Counter House Annex #2, First Floor, 225-6543 When is the House Post Office open for service? The following provides the times for all the services offered by the House Post Office. Postmaster's Office: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (or until the House adjourns) Monday through Friday Starp Window Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 6:00 Weekdays 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 Saturdays and Holidays Mail Deliveries: 7:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 Weekdays Mail Pick-Ups: 10:00 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 3:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. and 9:10 p.m. the mail chutes are picked up on weekdays The mail is dispatched from the House Post Office every hour on the hour seven days a week. E. How does the House Post Office operate? Last year the House Post Office handled over 100 million pieces of mail. Essentially, the United States Postal Service delivers the incoming mail to the loading dock in the Longworth Building, the mail is then taken to the mail room, where it is x-rayed for the presence of explosives or other devices. After the mail is x-rayed, it is then taken to the sorting area where the mail is broken down by the floor, after which the casemen sort it according to the offices on their respective floors. In the event that the mail delivered is extremely heavy, we do have employees who will work overtime to insure that no backlog of mail develops. Here and on the following pages are outlines and explanations of all the special services offered by the House Pose Office, which I have initiated since my election as Postmaster. If you have any questions or problems with regard to these services, please feel free to contact my office. ORANGE BAG SERVICE The Orange Bag Service was established to provide Members of Congress with the fastest possible service concerning the delivery of their mail to their respective districts. This service by-passes the City Postal Service by delivering the orange bags directly to the National Airport Mail Facility where the bags are placed on the next available flight going to the destination on the mail tag. All mail going to the Member's district can be placed into the bags. Instructions on How to Use the Orange Bag Service: All orange bags, district mail tags and congressional mail tags can be obtained from the Postmaster's Office. The pick-up schedules for the Orange Bag Service are at 2:00 p.m. for scheduled next-day delivery and at 5:00 p.m. for delivery the day thereafter. The House Post Office will pick up these bags with their regular mail pick-ups at 12:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. In the event a pick-up of the bag is needed later than 3:00 or 12:30, please call the Postmaster's Office. The bags can be brought to the Postmaster's Office at B-227 Longworth if you wish. Mail going into the Orange Bag must be addressed and bear either a Member's frank or postage which has been canceled. INSIDE MAIL All inter-office mail is considered to be "inside mail". At the present time there are mail boxes located in various parts of the House Office Buildings which have been designated as "INSIDE MAIL" drops. These boxes were designed to handle inter-office mail and prevent it from going down to the City Post Office and, thereby, being delayed in its delivery. All mail that is to be sent "inside" should be clearly stamped as "INSIDE MAIL" and not placed in the mail chutes or other mail boxes not specifically designated to handle inside mail. All mail that is picked up from the Members' offices should be sorted into groups of inside mail and outside mail to prevent any delays in the delivery of inside mail. Generally, if the inside mail is picked up at 10:00 a.m. (the first pick-up of the day), it should be delivered with either the 11:00 mail or, at the very latest, the 2:00 p.m. delivery. In 1972, the Committee on House Administration recommended that all mail that is to be sent "inside mail" should either be franked or have the postage affixed to it. It has been the policy of the House Post Office since that time to request that all mail that is to be sent from one office to another have postage on it. In addition, for those offices sending mail to the Senate, the Senate Post Office will not deliver any mail that does not have a frank or postage on it. |