INDIANAPOLIS — The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) today recognized area mailers Vera Bradley and Vital Proteins for innovation and industry best practices, two out of 14 companies total nationwide. The awards were presented on the final day of the National Postal Forum, the largest annual trade show in the country for the mailing industry, which was held this year in Indianapolis.

The USPS Area awards were presented to customers in two categories: the Mailing and Digital Innovation Award, recognizing customers who demonstrate creativity by finding new methods to use the mail to drive significant business results and mail growth; and the Shipping and eCommerce Innovation Award, honoring customers who have used industry best practices to implement new technologies to maximize efficiencies, and to convert requests for purchase and fulfillment into package volume reflecting significant business results. There were two winners in each of the Postal Service’s seven geographic Areas across the nation: Capital Metro, Eastern, Great Lakes, Northeast, Pacific, Southern and Western.

Vera Bradley received the Great Lakes Area Mailing and Digital Innovation Award. Vera Bradley is an American handbag, travel and accessory design company founded in 1982 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Vera Bradley added Informed Delivery to its catalogs, which drove consumers directly to Vera Bradley’s website to start filling their shopping carts. This allowed Vera Bradley to maintain its digital presence at no additional cost and focus efforts on print mailings.

Vital Proteins received the Great Lakes Area Shipping and eCommerce Innovation Award. Vital Proteins is a collagen-based wellness company from Franklin Park, Illinois. The company provides simple, whole food nutrition products that help support health, beauty and fitness. Their nourishing products are sold online at www.vitalproteins.com  and in stores nationwide. Vital Proteins revamped their packaging in 2018 in order to allow for more innovative branding and lower dimensional weights, which reduced their shipping costs and increased their bottom line in the process.

 (The following information can be used if the area wishes to acknowledge all of the winners nationwide)

The other Mailing and Digital Innovation Award winners were:

• Capital Metro: Security Finance, Spartanburg, South Carolina;
• Eastern: Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, Atlantic City, New Jersey;
• Northeast: Yankee Candle, South Deerfield, Massachusetts;
• Pacific: Lakeshore Learning Materials, Carson, California;
• Southern: BBVA Compass, Birmingham, Alabama; and
• Western: Deluxe Corp., Shoreview, Minnesota.

The other Shipping and eCommerce Innovation Award winners were:

• Capital Metro: Marleylilly, Greer, South Carolina;
• Eastern: GNC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
• Northeast: Warby Parker, New York, New York;
• Pacific: Shippo, San Francisco, California;
• Southern: Academy Sports + Outdoors ltd, Katy, Texas; and
• Western: Target, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

On behalf of the National Postal Forum and the United States Postal Service, congratulations to all of the USPS customer award winners. We appreciate the innovation and continued partnerships with all our mailers for their commitment to increasing the value of U.S. Mail. 

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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