USPS to Add to Direct Mail, Package Delivery Abilities: New Postmaster

By Heather Fletcher

The U.S. Postal Service needs to compete to survive and that means acting more like a private business, said Megan J. Brennan. To that end, the USPS needs to concentrate on direct mail and package delivery, said the first female postmaster general who will take over after Patrick R. Donahoe retires on Feb. 1. Brennan details a few of her plans for the USPS in a Sunday article in The Wall Street Journal.

Package delivery is growing while First Class mail volume is declining, reads recent congressional testimony from Mickey D. Barnett, chairman of the USPS Board of Governors.

Brennan tells The Wall Street Journal in "New Postmaster's Goal: Act Like Private Sector" that USPS package delivery is up by more than 20 percent during the past five years.

"To expand both mail advertising and package offerings, she says the agency will continue to invest in a targeted way, despite being short on cash," wrote Laura Stevens of the WSJ. "Much of that will go toward continuing to update a network designed for letters, not packages."

While Brennan tells Stevens there's "untapped potential" to explore in the growing package business, Brennan says direct mail still has a huge advantage in an "age of online distractions." She said the USPS has an advantage over its competition because its network enables the agency to deliver to every house, every day.

"Megan Brennan will not be taking interview questions until February," wrote USPS on Nov. 18, in response to Target Marketing's (a sister publication of Promo Marketing) request that she answer these questions:

What are your plans for USPS and how will they affect direct mailers and e-commerce marketers who send packages?
What's your timeline?
How do you plan to accomplish this?
What else should direct mailers and e-commerce marketers know about your plans?

The agency gave Target Marketing the same comment on Monday.

"Megan is focused on operations issues and delivering another successful holiday season," wrote a USPS spokeswoman. "Check back in early February."

Will Brennan's ideas, as told to The Wall Street Journal, be good for marketers?

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