Greetings:

Both Jeri and Dave are correct. The United States Postal Service, which came into being on Juy 1, 1971, is in fact a corporation, not a department of the federal government, as was its predecessor, the United States Post Office Department. Nor is it an idependent agency, as FEMA used to be before becoming part of the Department of Homeland Security.

However, the US Postal Service is unlike an ordinary corporation in many important way. Here are a few:

• It is entirely owned by the United States of America. It has neither stockholders nor other owners.

• Its directors, known as the Board of Governors, are appointed by the President of the United States.

• The rates that it charges for its services are set by an Independent Postal Rate Commission, which is a U.S. government agency.

• It enjoys a legal monopoly on the collection, dispatch, and delivery of first class mail (letters and other items of personal communication such as statements of account) with only such exemptions as Congress makes. (Congress has made an exemption for extremely urgent letters, which has allowed FEDEX and UPS to compete with the US Postal Service's Express Mail service.)

• Its products, services, and property are not subject to state and local taxation.

• Its employees are prohibitted by federal law from going on strike.

• Its stamps and money orders are considered securities and obligations of the United States.

• Crimes committed on or against US Postal Service property or personnel can be prosecuted as federal crimes.

• Postal inspectors working for the US Postal Service are designated special agents of the United States, and they enjoy all the powers and authority of other federal law enforcement officers.

The US Postal Service can this be considered a US federal government agency in the sense that people commonly use the term.

--- Steve