USPS Office of Inspector General

It’s 7:30 am and you’re a letter carrier . . . so take a moment and imagine the following as a typical workday. First, you walk into the office, clock in, and check in with the boss. Then, you load up the vehicle with the mail that is already prepared for your route. Finally, at 7:45 am, you jump into the vehicle, drive off and begin delivering the mail. At no point are you required to manually sort mail. Is that day far off in the future . . . or, is it just around the corner?

While the Postal Service leads the world in processing letter mail, private sector competitors have a higher market share for parcels. And while letter volumes are decreasing, parcel volumes are projected to increase. Although parcels represent less than 2 percent of mail volumes, the Postal Service parcel business makes up 13 percent of the market share in the U.S. The chart on the left depicts the market share for parcels. Just how do parcel industry giants keep their costs down and productivity up, even in today’s economic environment?

Sale is not a word usually associated with the Postal Service, but there is a first time for everything. Mail volume has dropped significantly this year, and the Postal Service is proposing a “Summer Sale” to encourage mailers to send more Standard Mail. The Postal Service believes it can use its excess capacity to deliver the additional mail volume at a relatively low cost.

Do you know why some magazines include postcards in the middle? Or have you mailed a letter back to a company in their envelope without having to put a stamp on it? Did you ever wonder how this service works?

While 2008 was not a good year for mail volume in general, one source of optimism for the future is the continued growth in mail tied to spending on political campaigns. This is spending during political campaigns on direct mail to promote candidates or issues and to raise funds. Fundraising requests can also generate single-piece First-Class Mail responses.