In recent decades, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has contributed greatly to the devitalization of downtown areas by relocating downtown downtown post offices to sprawl areas, thus giving local residents one less reason to go downtown.
It was part of the mindless subservience to the needs of automobile drivers above all else that afflicted urban planning nationwide in the last half of the 20th century, as documented in the 2020 book, RECONOMICS: The Path To Resilient Prosperity.
Now, on November 15, 2022, the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced to employees that it is looking to small brick-and-mortar retailers and businesses to help it revive its revenues, which have been severely undercut by the expanded small parcel delivery services of UPS, FedEx and Amazon.
USPS unveiled a new Delivering for Main Street initiative in October, during a summit they held for business lead development specialists.
Those USPS business lead development specialists are taking on a new role: as ambassadors for this enhanced small-business focus.
Developed by the Small Business Solutions team, Delivering for Main Street has three components:
- The Employee Engagement Lead Generation Program, which encourages all employees to look for new revenue opportunities and submit sales leads to support local small-business growth.
- A new small-business outreach program, which emphasizes how the Postal Service can be a partner for small business in the marketplace.
- The USPS Loyalty Program, which provides credits to small businesses for using Click-N-Ship to purchase Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express services.
“Delivering for Main Street is our team’s strategy to implement the Postal Service’s larger Delivering for America plan and position the USPS as the industry leader in providing solutions for small businesses,” said Peter Timko, small-business solutions manager at USPS headquarters in Washington, DC.
The initiative was unveiled last month during a summit for business lead development specialists.
The main role of business lead development specialists is to motivate USPS employees to participate in the employee lead programs.
They educate employees on what small-business needs are and how the Postal Service can help meet those needs, Lou DeRienzo, a small-business senior specialist, explained.
“The business lead development specialists are out there every day motivating USPS employees to speak to our customers,” said Dorothy Muir, a small-business senior specialist.
“By understanding the direction of the Delivering for Main Street strategy, they now have the tools necessary to grow participation in the employee lead programs,” she added.
Also in October, the USPS Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG) published a report titled The Value of the Postal Service’s Retail Network for Small Businesses. It suggested the creation of Micro-Fulfillment Services.
In a section of the report titled Enhancing Post Office Services for Small Businesses, it stated floated: “The Postal Service could leverage unused space in post offices to offer fulfillment services. For such an offering, the Postal Service could accept inventory from small businesses and store it at postal facilities across the country. When a customer places an order for one of the products, the post office could quickly get it to a carrier for local delivery. Offering fulfillment services would require the Postal Service to further develop its inventory and order management expertise, potentially drawing lessons from the successful fulfillment of COVID-19 home tests.”
Photo (courtesy of USPS) shows Steve Monteith, USPS chief customer and marketing officer, speaking to the Postal Service’s business lead development specialists about the role they will have in the Delivering for Main Street initiative.