So said a branch item submitted to the Postal Record from Indianapolis in 1891, referring to the new NALC symbol and reflecting the pride and enthusiasm letter carriers felt for the infant union.

The decision to adopt a union logo was made at the first NALC convention in August 1890, the delegates appointing a committee to come up with a suitable design. The result—a hand bearing a letter addressed U.S.A. within a circle inscribed "National Association of Letter Carriers"—was adopted in January 1891. Produced as a gold badge hanging from a sheaf pin, the symbol soon became popular with letter carriers throughout the country. 

The reason for producing a badge with a distinctive symbol was to help letter carriers—as union members and as skilled workers—identify one another. As reported in the 1890 Postal Record, "these badges or emblems will be quite universal, and will protect Carriers and Postmasters of smaller offices from being imposed upon by anyone claiming themselves as P.O. men in good standing when they are not."

To ensure the sanctity of the badge, they could only be ordered by a branch secretary—at $1.20 apiece in solid gold and 55 cents in gold plate.

NALC’s decision to adopt a logo paralleled a trend developing throughout the young trade- union movement to identify goods produced by skilled union craftsmen. Among the oldest in the American labor movement, NALC’s symbol continues to stand for letter carriers’ pride in their union, their craft and their service to the public.