USPS Office of Inspector General

Mail collection boxes are practically as American as apple pie. They also seem to be disappearing as quickly as mom’s homemade apple pie. 

Nationally, the number of collection boxes declined by more than 12,000 in the past 5 years. Some customers have complained the U.S. Postal Service has gone too far and removed too many collection boxes in neighborhoods. They’ve also questioned whether this effort is saving USPS money in the long run.

It’s easy to understand the underlying motivation behind the U.S. Postal Service’s digital strategy: use data to make mail a much more powerful marketing and communications tool. Hard copy and digital working together to make each other better. So what if the Postal Service is a little late to the party. At least it has showed up, which, as Woody Allen reminded us, is 80 percent of life.

Same-day delivery. On-demand delivery. Customer control. Dynamic routing. These are just a few features that have made package delivery a booming and competitive industry. Some might even argue it’s a downright sexy one.

To get to the bells and whistles, however, you need a solid foundation. All of those innovations depend on accurate tracking. And tracking starts with scanning. Customers expect to be able to track their orders as soon as they have checked out online. So complete tracking and tracing is essential.