Postmaster General Lays Out Vision for Mailing Industry at Postal Forum
ORLANDO, FL—April 2, 2012—In a keynote address to open the National Postal Forum, Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General and CEO of the U.S. Postal Service, today discussed the transformative power of technology and innovation in the mailing industry.
Speaking at the nation’s largest annual gathering for the mailing industry, Donahoe described a technology and data-centric mailing industry poised to benefit from innovations to increase the value of mail for both senders and receivers.
“As an industry, we have to retain what differentiates mail and physical delivery, and bring it into the future,” said the Postmaster General. “It’s astonishing how much is changing in the ways people communicate. Mail has to be a part of these changes.”
Donahoe described a rapidly evolving technology landscape that is changing the ways businesses and people are communicating. “We have to look at potential changes in technology and think about how to use those technologies to enhance the positive characteristics of mail,” he said. “The same goes for the Postal Service. We have to take the best attributes of the Postal Service and bring it into the future.”
The Postmaster General also advanced themes relating to the Postal Service as a national delivery platform, and of using technology and innovation to help extend the platform and provide growth opportunities for the mailing industry and America’s businesses.
“Where we start is with the idea of delivery. That’s the core function of the Postal Service. We deliver what you create. And if we can expand our delivery platform beyond what it is today, we can provide you with even greater opportunities,” said Donahoe.
The Postmaster General discussed the four core business strategies of the Postal Service: strengthening the business to consumer channel; improving the customer experience; growing the package business; and continuing to become leaner, faster and smarter as an organization.
“We have left nothing off of the table in terms of rethinking how we perform our core function of delivering,” said Donahoe. “The best way forward is to embrace the potential of change. As an industry, and as individual businesses, we need to think about the rewards of a more dynamic future.”
About the USPS
A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With nearly 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, the U.S. Postal Service was ranked number one in overall service performance, out of the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world, Oxford Strategic Consulting. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.
Source: USPS.
