USPS marks milestone with new stamps and commemorative items By Dennis Sadowski Even before the United States declared independence from the British crown, the Second Continental Congress on July 26, 1775, established a formal postal system, naming Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general. The Congress recognized...

Those five- and nine-digit numbers in our mailing addresses seem to be a normal part of life that hardly gets noticed. Known as a ZIP (zone improvement plan) code, the digits can be found on virtually every piece of mail across the country. But more than...