Good morning,

Thank you so much for joining us this morning. What an unusual year this has been. 

For the last 8 months, all of Bermuda has had to readjust how we conduct our lives; reevaluate how we interact with one another; and redefine how we provide services to the people of this country.

I am pleased to say that while we were in the throes of a global pandemic, the men and women of the Bermuda Post Office rose to the challenge and continued delivering mail, thus providing Bermuda with the stellar customer service that it is known for. 

This underscores the commitment and passion of our postal workers, and I want to take this opportunity to thank all our staff for their service during this time.

They worked to ensure that critical local mail was delivered safely around the island in spite of the disruptions to the global postal networks due to COVID-19.

This is why we believe that the recognition of World Post Day carries so much more significance than in previous years. 

Today is a day when we can collectively thank all of our postal workers around the world for their dedication. 

By way of background, World Post Day was declared in Tokyo, Japan at the Universal Postal Union Congress in 1969. 

Bermuda is one of many countries worldwide that participates annually in World Post Day Celebrations.

This is an opportunity to recognize the contributions of our local post office employees who provide products and services at all of our postal locations around Bermuda. These contributions to our communities were even more apparent during COVID-19 when delivery post persons ensured continued delivery of essential mail such as pension, social insurance and unemployment relief cheques, and the delivery of educational materials to school children during the shelter in place.

In recognition of World Post Day here in Bermuda, on this date 23 years ago the BPO launched a series of 14 envelopes that showcased the artistic talent of a former employee Mr. Andrew Furbert. This is a significant date on which to re-launch the series featuring the current locations.

So, as a token of appreciation on World Post Day, the BPO will release for one day only the popular red Perot Stamp cancellation on the Perot Post Office envelopes. This will be of interest to collectors.

I should also note that in honour of the 400^th Anniversary of Parliament, panels representing the special stamp issue were launched on 6^th August 2020. In a moment, we will do a formal unveiling.

These stamps depict the entrance to the present St. Peter’s Church built on that site, Sessions House on Parliament Hill and the Speaker of the House’s Silver Mace and wooden gavel, which was fashioned from the wood of a cedar tree. 

We are pleased to commemorate this moment of history with the commissioning of these latest stamp panels.

Lastly, I end where I began, the purpose of World Post Day is to bring awareness to the Post’s role in the everyday lives of people and businesses, as well as its contribution to global social and economic development. 

2020 has certainly been an extraordinary year. 

And our team has made us proud by continuing to serve the people of Bermuda with professionalism and efficiency. 

We are grateful for their service, and today, we are delighted to join postal services the around the globe in celebrating our workers on World Post Day.

Thank you.