Postal Volume Not Declining

April 1, 2006
Speaking to more than 6,500 mailers and advertisers at the National Postal Forum in Orlando in early April, Postmaster General John E. Potter forecasted

Speaking to more than 6,500 mailers and advertisers at the National Postal Forum in Orlando in early April, Postmaster General John E. Potter forecasted a transformed U.S. Postal Service that will see a growth in direct mail as well as advances in technology. He also discussed advances in technology that will track Postal Service performance and reduce costs.

“It wasn’t long ago that some of the pundits thought that total mail volume would be in steep decline by 2006, as hard-copy mail became obsolete,” said Potter. “They were wrong.”

Mail volume last year reached a new record of 212 billion pieces, and marketers have found that using the mail, along with the Internet, has resulted in significantly larger orders than if they had relied on Internet advertising alone, added Potter. Potter also discussed the Postal Service’s high levels of customer satisfaction, elimination of $11 billion in debt, and productivity increases six years in a row.

“Last year, we unveiled our 2006-2010 Strategic Transformation Plan,” he said. “It was the logical next step in advancing change and builds on the progress we made in the first Transformation Plan of 2002. The new Strategic Transformation Plan is full of bold initiatives that will require the industry and the Postal Service to work closer than ever to be successful. It’s our roadmap for the future, and when we are successful, we will have driven an additional $5 billion in costs out of our base.

With annual revenues of $70 billion, the U.S. Postal Service is the world’s leading provider of mailing and delivery services. It delivers more than 46 percent of the world’s mail volume--some 212 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year -- and serves seven million customers each day at its 37,000 retail locations nationwide.

Source: U.S. Postal Service