USPS announces another partnership, this time with Staples
Earlier this month, the United States Postal Service announced it would be teaming up with online giant Amazon to provide a Sunday delivery option for customers in select regions of the United States. This week, in another strategic move to further increase revenue and extend services, USPS and Staples officially signed a partnership to open agency offices within a select number of the retail stores. The effort is part of the USPS pilot program named Retail Partner Expansion Program.
Opening the first such half-office earlier this month, the agency hopes to open a total of 82 Staples locations during its pilot program. Each site will offer a wide variety of services found in more traditional offices, including stamps, first-class domestic and international mail and package services, priority mail, priority mail express, domestic and international, global express guaranteed and standard post. And Staples will provide customers with a full array of postal products.
While the pilot program is designed to provide room for later expansion, the initial launch will affect only five regions: San Francisco, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, San Diego and Worcester, Mass. Within each location, USPS will act as the store's exclusive mailing and shipping option.
Building relationships with Amazon and now Staples, the USPS is making a clear, concerted effort to not only increase revenue, but also expand services for customers nationwide. Companies hoping to undertake similar efforts can invest in mailing software to help boost their own postal efficiency. Mailing software automates a number of the more labor-intensive aspects of sending physical parcels, such as presorting mail and generating any and all postal reports. Additionally, all pieces are standardized, validated and barcoded as they are entered.