News

Commentary: USPS must embrace self-service

October 29, 2012

A commentary piece posted on The Atlantic offers up a blunt discussion regarding the dire situation facing the United States Postal Service. In light of budget deficits in an election year, author Jeff Jordan posed the following question to the presidential candidates:

President Obama and Governor Romney, the United States Postal Service is forecasted to lose $5.5 billion in 2012, and also has defaulted on scheduled payments of $11 billion. What would you do to fix it?

Since he didn't expect an actual reply from the candidates, he answered the question himself — and one of the items on his list stressed the importance of self-service in the next-generation post office:

Re-invent the post office. Operating and staffing 36,000 physical post offices is hugely expensive. And these post offices are being hollowed out, as volume going through the average post office is down 19 percent in the past four years alone. USPS needs to steal pages from the UPS and FedEx playbooks. Most physical post offices should be closed and replaced with self-service kiosks, supported by proven technology tools. These kiosks could be located in retailers, who would gladly trade a little space in exchange for foot traffic and possibly a revenue share. Closing post offices would save a fortune in operating and staffing costs, and the proceeds from selling the real estate could fund the benefits shortfall.

Read more about government use of self-service.