As the Postal Service looks at the next 10 years, the agency inspector general looked back at the last decade of technology innovation to see what’s worked and what hasn’t.
US Postal Service has made the greatest advances in the implementation of big data, artificial intelligence, and digital platform technologies, including apps, smart barcodes, and QR codes, in the past 10 years and will continue to focus on these technologies for the next decade, according to a report from the agency’s inspector general. Since 2011, the IG has published more than 30 reports examining Swiss Post’s innovation efforts. These audits focused on four areas: mail innovations, data analysis, autonomous technologies, and intelligent infrastructure with results. Postal innovations were at the heart of the Postal Service’s efforts, which focused on Informed Delivery, a free application that allows users to preview mail (letters and packages) and make decisions about delivery options; and QR codes used by businesses, political campaigns, and others as part of their marketing efforts.
While mail innovations primarily focus on attracting new mail customers, data analysis technologies are used to improve and optimize mail operations. The IG stated that collecting data was not a problem for the authorities, but using the “massive amounts of data” generated every day was a challenge.
“Data-driven advanced algorithms and analytics can play a critical role in the design of … new, last-mile solutions,” the report states. “Postal infrastructure is—and will continue to be—supported and enhanced by the use of big data across the supply chain.”
The Postal Service introduced the Intelligent Mail (IMb) barcode program in 2006 to track letters and parcels and use the resulting data to improve mail delivery. As with other programs, IMb is also being used on the business side as an offering for commercial mailers as part of the Informed Visibility-Mail Tracking and Reporting, or IV-MTR, program. Launched in 2018, the IVMTR program enables marketers to track every email in a campaign in near real time. Although these efforts remain “in the works,” the report said, citing experts.
The postal service also uses data as part of its artificial intelligence projects, such as the AI Virtual Agent chatbot and kiosks that are installed in the participating vehicle departments. As all of these projects progress at different stages, the innovations are classified into autonomous technologies and intelligent infrastructure for the postal service has not been confirmed, including autonomous delivery vehicles, blockchain and the Internet of Things.
“The Postal Service’s engagement with these technologies has been limited to research and testing so far,” the report states. “Experts, however, believe these innovations will become increasingly impactful in the coming years.”
The agency recently released an agency-wide 10-year plan that includes a technology component. The strategy is to spend $ 2.4 billion on technology initiatives over the next decade, about 6% of the funds needed to make the plan a reality. The strategy prioritizes development of digital platforms, big data analytics and artificial intelligence and machine learning. Other technology areas, including the Internet of Things and security, including biometrics for identity services, will “play a more limited role” in the 10-year plan, the report said.
The report identifies several barriers to new technology adoption, including the size of the postal service compared to others in the industry and the “legal, technical, financial and regulatory” challenges associated with being a member of the federal government.
That said, “these challenges can be mitigated within the boundaries of the Postal Service’s current regulatory, operational, and financial framework,” the IG wrote.
