Who among us hasn’t purchased something from Amazon, Tigerdirect, Walmart, Macys, Newegg, etc?

Meanwhile, the USPS stands athwart a world where every merchant fights to reduce prices and improve customer experience, roaring, “You will pay my price and you will do it my way, or else.”

Something’s gotta give… and it already has.

offer- in a service scenario, usually a proposal with associated terms related to a target subject. With
intents to generate an action. In the USPS world,
the customer has come to expect this at no cost.

collect- This is a periodic action, representing a
required number of additional actions to successfully execute. Assuming you are referring to the plethora of Ole’ Blue boxes, conveniently “re-populated” located throughout the USPS global geographic footprint. But, they may already be highspeed rail track by now, so what to do….

scan- I believe in the postal world, this operation
might be technically impossible. However, there do
exist some complex tsa technologies capable of successfully negotiating the process. But, I’m afraid they my exceed the aptitude skills of much of the current compliment. (based on my most recent audit experience at a P&DC)

deliver- The last action required which consumes the
largest financial and least sustainable impact on
the offer. There are a number of compelling reasons why this action word is systematically dismantling
the USPS’s existing model. Transportation is the
life blood of the USPS. Without which, the core components of the revenue yields under the USPS cannot
be sustained. I’m not certain, but I do believe the USPS is unwilling to surrender this segment of their
business to the telecommunications and broadband providers. Unless of course new carbon cap and trade force them to “green up”!!! Then, they may have no choice but to merge.

About 6 months ago I started using an iphone. I never read the new york times, but now I read it all the time. As the print magazines that I do read become more available and user friendly on-line, we will be drawn to them because we can interact with them (unlike traditional printed media). ipads will make this kind of interaction even more ubiquitous.

Somehow, someway, the USPS should figure out how to embrace this, and leverage this reality. Turn what could be a challenge into a opportunity for growth.

Los Angeles Times Business
February 12, 2010 | 5:36 pm

Upon spelunking around for Valentine’s apps in Apple’s now-massive App Store, I was amazed to find that there are at least dozens of Valentine’s-related applications. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised, given that close to 150,000 apps are available. That means apps are just getting more and more specific and the average usefulness level is very likely dropping.

The idea of 150,000 apps is hard to conceive of for us children of the software-in-box era, when the shelves of CompUSA or Software Etc. probably held no more than a couple hundred titles at once. And even most of those were barely worth a second look.

That said, not everything in this world needs to be useful — and for the price of four rides on the mechanical horse outside the supermarket, you can amuse yourself for minutes with a variety of odd and silly applications centered on just about any theme or topic. Why not?

I only ask that you wipe your phone clean after testing out these apps. It’s a family holiday.

Now, then …

Paper is familiar to older generations, electronic presentation is familiar to the younger generations.

Although my old neighbor taught me when I was a boy on how to make a quill feather pen and use india ink and blotters, most correspondence today is by email.

The postal service’s relevance to this technology may be in the adaption of its universal delivery platform access to every address as a neutral courier bound by federal protection, authority and obligation.

USPS invested millions of dollars in flat mail sorting machines such as the AFSM and FSS to completely automate the processing of this mail stream. However, with Job’s brilliance and the younger generation’s affinity for everything electronic, periodical news or otherwise paper magazines will be history in about five years.

I don’t think the immediacy of ‘pushing’(not receiving) a paper catalog is replaceable since most catalogs are not sought by the consumers. However, with the revolution iPAD like devices, online advertising will grow even further to the point where ads that lead to colorful, touchable, and ‘magnifiable’ catalogs will be all over relevant websites.

The business, technology, and consumer habits are definitely changing, and I don’t know what, if anything, USPS can do to adapt and take advantage of the situation except……enhancing our parcel delivery business to accommodate the ever growing number of eRetailers looking for a cheaper AND reliable shipping service. We reach every address six days a week in all 50 states. It’s up to USPS leaders to sit and watch the train going by or to start planning NOW.