In 1954, the USPS was looking for innovative ways to process the 54 billion items mailed. National Geographic traveled to post offices big and small across the U.S. to see how the agency kept the country connected and became a pillar of daily life.
Recently Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield, who left a highly successful business career in Michigan to join President Eisenhower’s Cabinet, was discussing the size of the United States Post Office Department. With a rueful smile he recalled his reaction to the Department’s sprawling dimensions on the day he assumed the job of No. 1 postman.
“I walked into my office alone,” he told me, “and received my first surprise. That office was overwhelming—almost as big as a basketball court! After a hike around the room I sat at my desk and picked up an organizational chart.
“The chart gave me another surprise, for not until then did I realize the full magnitude of the Post Office. I thought, ‘Five hundred thousand employees! Why, this organization must be as large as General Motors!'”
It is just as large, in fact, and in some respects far larger. lncluding all divisions, the automotive giant employs more people (517,000), but no company on earth can match the extent of the Post Office’s far-flung operations or approach the number of transactions it conducts with the public.
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