Increasingly, consumers and businesses want access to Postal Service products and our delivery platform online. They want to buy stamps or send a package without having to go to a Post Office. They want their interactions with us to be easy and to fit their schedules.
More convenient access
The Postal Service is working hard to make sure consumers and businesses have convenient access to our products and services. In fact, nearly three-quarters of all retail locations offering postal products and services are located where consumers and businesses are already shopping.
In FY2011, USPS developed a new retail strategy based on the idea that, in addition to coming to our customers’ doors or mailboxes every day, the Postal Service should be where they are, so using the mail is as easy as possible.
In the past year, we have worked with major retailers — Office Depot is just one — to offer postal products and services where people are already shopping. We’ve also invested in kiosks to provide retail postal options in shopping malls and other high-traffic areas. With 70,936 approved postal providers within easy reach, doing business with us is increasingly a quick stop on a regular shopping trip.
Building on our growing network of retail partners who provide postal products and services that communities need, the Postal Service introduced the Village Post Office (VPO). The Village Post Office is a new retail offering tailored to meet the needs of small communities currently served by low-activity Post Offices under consideration for closing or consolidation. VPOs provide customers with greater access to our products and services because they are housed in businesses that have longer hours, weekend service and more convenient locations.
The Village Post Office
Housed in businesses that have longer hours, weekend service and more convenient locations, the Village Post Office is a new retail offering tailored to meet the needs of small communities.
The Postal Service also set out in 2011 to be more convenient for those who do their shopping on the go by offering more products and services online and making USPS.com more convenient and easy to use. We’re also developing apps to help customers find contract postal offices, kiosks, blue collection boxes and Post Offices.
Greater convenience online
To increase convenience for those who do their shopping on the go or after hours, the Postal Service has enhanced its offerings available through USPS.com and made it easier to use.
Improving convenience extends to our large mailing customers as well. For example, we started seamless acceptance of bulk mail in FY2011. It enables customers to drop mail at any location using a single account and a simple online tool.
