Industry News
The Future of the Postal Service
By
Oct 11, 2004, 11:25

There are many who thought that Direct Mail would be replaced by e-mail, for personal and business use. There are also those who predicted that the Postal Service would be replaced by express carriers such as UPS and FedEx.

To paraphrase a great American, the rumors of its death have been greatly exaggerated.

There is no doubt that e-mail is a huge competitor of the Post Office. It is cheap, fast, convenient…but maybe too cheap and convenient. There has been a surge of spamming and phishing that has made consumers more leery of e-mail. They have erected firewalls to keep out the unwanted e-mail, but these methods have also prevented legitimate businesses from getting through.

Because of these filters and legislation that is scaring legitimate businesses into limiting bulk e-mails, more businesses are going back to using Direct Mail. The Postal Service is seeing a sharp increase in Standard Mail, which businesses utilize. In addition, according to the Print Council, 48% of everything printed goes into the mail.

Advertising Age magazine did a study earlier this year about which medium did the best job of reaching a target audience. 42% of respondents claimed that direct mail provided the best return on investment.

Smart businesses are using Direct Mail as part of their advertising mix to reach new customers, to build brand awareness, to stay in touch with existing customers, and to increase market share.

Realizing that competition is increasing, the US Postal Service has been transforming itself. Today’s fast-paced business environment demands new approaches to old communications methods.

Here are some of the innovations that the Postal Service is working on:

• Information-rich barcodes that will get the mail further into the system for quicker delivery
  
• Digital scanners that will track each mail piece through the system, for end-to-end visibility of mail from processing to delivery
  
• New alignments in the transportation structure so that all mail is sent the best and fastest way
  
• Consolidated distribution centers so that all mail is funneled through the same processes
  
• New software to increase address quality for better deliverability