U.S. Postal Service: Overview of Initiatives to Increase Revenue and Introduce Nonpostal Services and Experimental Postal Products Page: 32 of 37
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Appendix IV: Description of Ongoing USPS
Initiatives, as of November 14, 2012No. Initiative Name Description Reason
19 Simplified & USPS introduced Every Door Direct Mail-Retail as an experimental postal product that Grow revenue
Saturation Mail used simplified addressing, entry, pricing and payment options to entice small and
Incentives/ medium-sized businesses to advertise to consumers within the businesses'
Every Door Direct neighborhoods. By making advertising through the mail (direct mail) less costly and
Mail-Retail complex, USPS hopes to attract new mail customers and/or increase its mail volume and
revenues from existing small-volume business mailers. The PRC approved Every Door
Direct-Retail as a permanent postal product in September 2012. Appendix II provides
additional information about this product.
Shipping Services
20 Digital Channel This initiative is intended to make it easier for technology-savvy and mobile customers to, Add value
Components among other things, order packing supplies, buy postage, print labels, and schedule free
package pickups using USPS's website and other digital channels, such as smart phone
mobile applications. The increased use of digital channels is intended to provide
customers with greater access to USPS's products and services.
21 ePostage ePostage is an initiative to provide mobile and technology-savvy customers with greater Grow revenue
access to USPS's products and services. As part of this effort, USPS has developed
commercial shipping tools that, among other things, provide payment and tracking
services for online retailers. According to USPS, for example, its e-Postage solution is
currently used by one major online retailer.
22 Grow Small and This initiative involves enhancements to USPS's portfolio of products and services Grow revenue
Key Accounts targeted toward small businesses. According to USPS, recent enhancements include
Carrier Pickup and Priority Mail Prepaid Forever Flat Rate Packaging. USPS also has
extended its flat-rate-shipping options with Priority Mail and Express Mail padded
envelopes, and upgraded its online Click-N-Ship platform on USPS.com.
23 Growth through This initiative involves the renegotiation of USPS's Parcel Select contracts to adjust its Grow revenue
Competitive pricing for deliveries based on geography. Specifically, USPS adopted a two-tiered pricing
Contracts and approach-one tier for suburban areas and another tier for rural areas-that is expected
Pricing to lead to greater volume and revenue. According to USPS, for example, the contract
changes enable private-sector firms to leverage USPS's low costs and delivery access to
provide "last-mile services" to their customers.
24 Increase Profitability This initiative involves a First-Class Package Service for packages weighing less than 1 Grow revenue
for Lightweight pound. According to USPS, this service provides the only per-ounce pricing in the
Products marketplace.
25 Market-Based This initiative is to better align USPS pricing with market demand and USPS costs. The Support goals
Pricing and Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 required USPS's market-dominant
Products products to cover their costs and any price increases for these products must be tied to
the rate of inflation. For example, USPS moved Parcel Post~-previously an unprofitable
market-dominant product-to its competitive product line. According to USPS, this change
will enable USPS to raise its price for Parcel Post to at least cover the product's costs. In
addition, the change is expected to benefit USPS's Priority Mail@ products which,
according to USPS, had been disadvantaged because these products were previously
competing against the unprofitable Parcel Post service.
26 Marketing, This initiative is intended to help USPS compete for a larger share of the parcel shipment Grow revenue
Advertising & business. Specifically, USPS developed a marketing plan to communicate the benefits of
Promotions/ its products, services, and initiatives through multi-channel marketing campaigns.
Advertising According to USPS, one feature of the plan involves reminding customers about the
Shipping Services benefits and features of existing shipping options which it hopes will "continue to position"
USPS as the "shipper of choice" for businesses.GAO-13-216 U.S. Postal Service
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United States. Government Accountability Office. U.S. Postal Service: Overview of Initiatives to Increase Revenue and Introduce Nonpostal Services and Experimental Postal Products, report, January 15, 2013; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc298921/m1/32/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.