The U.S. Postal Service is best known for delivering the mail. But did you know it’s also the number one seller of the most widely used type of alternative financial service in the United States? We’re talking about money orders, which function like prepaid checks. The Postal Service sold a whopping 97 million of them with a face value of $21 billion in fiscal year 2014.
The story goes that Alibaba founder Jack Ma chose his company’s name for two reasons: He wanted to be ahead of Amazon alphabetically and he wanted a global-sounding name. It didn’t hurt that some people also associated the word Alibaba with “hidden treasure” – recalling the most famous story from The Arabian Nights.
Alibaba is China’s giant ecommerce platform that is now taking on the globe. Its September 2014 initial public offering in the United States was the largest ever, and Ma has signaled his interest in expanding here.
You can’t cut your way to prosperity. It’s a common saying in business circles, particularly in the mailing industry. The U.S. Postal Service has done a good job cutting costs, yet still needs to grow revenue with new products and services.
Indeed, recent reports suggest a sure way for a post to boost revenue is by offering customers a range of innovative products, such as parcels, logistics, banking, insurance, and digital services. Many of our papers have encouraged the Postal Service to explore these kinds of revenue-generating products and services.
Technology plays a huge role in the fast-moving package delivery market. Package delivery companies that skimp on innovation investments do so at their own risk.
As part of its effort to be the “shipper of choice” for customers, the U.S. Postal Service has invested millions of dollars in...
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Registered Mail might seem like a service from yesteryear in this day and age of Intelligent Mail barcodes and Informed Delivery, which give customers a sneak peek into their mail via email alerts.
But with proof of mailing and delivery along with strict rules and controls, Registered...
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Managing workhours is a critical part of helping the U.S. Postal Service realize annual productivity gains, which help offset cost increases.
That’s why it’s so important postal management uses all the tools at its disposal to improve productivity. One tool is the mail processing variance...
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The 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) allows the U.S. Postal Service to enter into bilateral agreements with foreign posts to promote an efficient operation of postal services with other nations. These agreements govern the exchange of international products and services...
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The U.S. Postal Service has contracts for goods and services that are managed in three systems – the Contract Authoring and Management System, the Transportation Contracting Support System, and the electronic Facilities Management System. The contracting officer (CO) is ultimately responsible...
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We are conducting an audit to assess the accuracy and reliability of city carrier labor cost attribution.
City carriers perform both office and street activities. City carrier street costs are developed separately in two distinct groups: letter routes and special purpose routes (SPR)....
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