Host a holiday promotional event in the lobby of the main Post Office or other prominent facility to demonstrate the ease and convenience of using USPS.COM for all of our customers’ shipping needs.
Arrange with your Information Technology department to set up the necessary computer equipment (desktop or laptop computer, printer, large monitor, cables, etc.) to demonstrate easy access to shipping services on USPS.COM. (The person(s) demonstrating should have account information entered in advance.) Set up in an appropriate high-traffic area with good visuals for cameras. Pitch to local morning shows and/or noon news shows for live coverage.
Use a display with a poster-sized print of the USPS.COM home page as a visual to demonstrate site links. Set up a display of shipping products, including Flat-Rate Boxes, as well as holiday stamps and gift items for sale such as ornaments and puzzles. Have holiday fact sheets available for reporters (available through the communications program specialist for your district).
Consider having someone dress as Santa and have the postmaster show him how easy it is to ship online. Offer to show customers coming in with packages how to ship online. Lobby helpers, perhaps in holiday costume, could hand out candy canes and direct customers to Automated Postal Centers® (APCs®) and other products and services.
Pitch a story on “the great package race.” Have a reporter fit as much as he or she can of the same items into two Flat-Rate Boxes, addressing both parcels to the same address. Then have the reporter mail one parcel over the counter and the other using the convenience of USPS.COM. Point out for the reporter how much was saved by going online. The reporter can then report on when the parcels arrived in a later news segment for additional coverage.
Through Marketing and/or Sales, find customers, such as eBay sellers, who rely on USPS shipping to provide testimonials. Pitch to business editors and consumer reporters.
Enlist a local computer club to come in to demonstrate how easy and smart it is to use USPS.COM for shipping.
You can also host demonstrations of CardStore and the Postal Store in addition to demonstrating shipping services online. Add reminders of important shipping deadline dates.
If there is a postal employee choir at the facility, they can sing holiday songs for the customers and provide another visual.
