USPS is reminding employees of the proper procedure for disposing of old postal equipment and documents.
If there are unwanted postal artifacts at a workplace, the facility’s manager should email photos and a description of each item to the Postal Service historian’s office. Artifacts should not be sent to USPS headquarters in Washington, DC, without approval.
Employees may not take old postal items home, sell them or donate them to a museum, including the National Postal Museum in Washington, DC.
The reason: These items belong to the Postal Service and employees don’t have the authority to give away postal property without first obtaining approval of the USPS historian’s office.
Most items accepted by the historian’s office will be preserved for research and reference as part of the Postal Service’s collection. The historian can also provide further guidance in disposing of valuable historic records.
For more information, refer to Handbook AS-701, Asset Management Process, Part 6.4.1 Antiques and Collectibles.
