Press Release
Source: U.S. Postal Service
Value of Mail Enhanced by TechnologyTuesday June 14, 4:52 pm ET
WASHINGTON, June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- For the past four years, the Postal Service has used the Internet to provide improved service to business customers and enhance the value of mail.
"We've improved our products and services to better meet the needs of our business customers. And we've introduced new technologies to make it more convenient for our customers to do business with us," Postmaster General John E. Potter told the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors at its monthly meeting here today.
Potter noted "Business customers and consumers can go to our website to print shipping labels, pay for postage and insurance, arrange for carrier pickup, delivery confirmation, and file change of address notifications."
Last year, the Nielsen//NetRatings named usps.com as the number 1 brand among all U.S. Government websites. During the past three years, web transactions at the Postal Service website increased from nine million in 2002 to more than 21 million per month this year.
"We continue to set new records in nearly every transaction category. Just last month, for example, we hit a record 425,000 electronic Change-of- Address notices ... that demonstrates growing public acceptance of our efforts to use technology to increase customer convenience, while we drive down costs and add value to the mail," said Potter.
The Postal Service's use of technology continues to be recognized. The Postal Service's Intelligent Mail and Address Quality group received two technology awards -- one for the electronic Change-of-Address system -- and a second award for advanced barcode technology. The Marketing group received an award for the effectiveness of USPS's online Click-N-Ship service. The Postal Inspection Service received a security award for its multi-media awareness campaign to alert customers to mail-related crimes.
Potter also noted other awards that demonstrate Postal Service leadership in diversity. The Supply Management Team was ranked third by Diversity Business.com among all government agencies that do business with diversity- owned businesses. Senior Vice President and General Counsel Mary Anne Gibbons and the Law Department were honored with a Special Achievement Award from the Minority Corporate Counsel Association for furthering diversity in the legal profession. Strategic Business Planning Manager Kent Smith accepted an award from the American Productivity and Quality Center for innovative strategic planning that went into the creation of the Transformation Plan.
Potter noted that 31 new postal engineers have completed an intense 2-year training program working in every aspect of postal field operations. The graduates will be deployed to permanent positions at operations facilities across the country.
Potter announced the retirement of Senior Vice President Ralph Moden as Senior Vice President for Government Relations. Moden is retiring after 34 years of service. Potter congratulated Moden for doing an outstanding job representing the Postal Service on Capitol Hill for the last 2 1/2 years.
In other action:
The Board of Governors approved the purchase of 1,406 tractors and 382 spotters to replace vehicles that are no longer cost effective to maintain. The new vehicles will be equipped with a Fleet Management System to provide transportation and networks managers with information about how the vehicle is operated to improve customer service, vehicle utilization, reduce costs, and improve productivity.
The Board also approved the purchase of 3,120 left-hand-drive carrier route vehicles to be used on city routes, allowing the redeployment of existing postal-owned right-hand-drive vehicles to rural routes. The redeployment of right-hand-drive vehicles to rural routes -- which began in 2003 -- is expected to improve safety for rural carriers who must access curb- line mailboxes from their vehicles.
Since 1775, the Postal Service has connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. It is an independent federal agency that visits 143 million homes and businesses every day and is the only service provider delivering to every address in the nation. The Postal Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of more $69 billion, it is the world's leading provider of mailing and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world's mail volume -- some 206 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year-and serves seven million customers each day at its 37,000 retail locations nationwide.
