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Audit Reports

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Jul
24
2020
Report Number:
20-237-R20
Report Type:
Audit Reports
Category: Retail, Sales & Marketing

Informed Delivery Sign-Up Communication and Implementation

Objective

Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of the internal communication and implementation of Informed Delivery sign up at retail facilities. Informed Delivery is the U.S. Postal Service’s offering that allows customers to digitally preview their letter mail and package delivery via email notifications, online dashboard, or mobile application.

The Postal Service rolled out Informed Delivery nationwide in April 2017 and, in doing so, provided instructions to retail window employees on how to explain the new service and direct customers to sign up through the Postal Service’s Informed Delivery website.

Postal Service Headquarters staff from Corporate Communications and Delivery and Retail Operations managed the communication and distribution of information related to Informed Delivery sign up to Postal Service staff. Information was published in a variety of channels including the Postal Service’s internal Blue Pages, USPS Link, Retail Digest, and emails, and were also communicated through standup talks, videos, and teleconferences.

Postal Service field staff monitored implementation of the sign up changes as part of their overall oversight of Informed Delivery deployment, which included mandatory training with information on how to sign up customers.

Our fieldwork was completed before the President of the United States issued the national emergency declaration concerning the novel coronavirus disease outbreak on March 13, 2020. The results of this audit do not reflect operational changes or service impacts that may have occurred throughout the Postal Service’s operational network as a result of the pandemic.

Finding

The Postal Service’s communication and implementation of Informed Delivery sign up was effective across nearly all retail locations we tested. We noted window employees at 33 of 34 (97 percent) of the randomly selected retail units we visited correctly referred us to the Postal Service’s Informed Delivery website when asked about how to sign up for Informed Delivery. At one site where the employee incorrectly responded to our inquiry, local management took immediate corrective actions to reiterate the process for replying to customers asking how to sign up for Informed Delivery.

Postal Service managers and staff we spoke with at the headquarters, area, district, and local levels attributed these positive results to the quality of communication and implementation provided.

Recommendations

We made no recommendations in this report. We will continue to monitor communication and implementation of these and other key operational changes and may perform additional work in the future.