The
package arrived a day or so ago. Opened it. Contents weren’t right.
Completed the form, repackaged it, drove to the post office with
the prepaid label in place to send it back.
That’s
story number one, generically told.
Different
year. Different package. Same idea. Sort of. This time, the prepaid
option involved having to find one of the nearby drop off locations.
I’d say convenient drop off locations, but none of possibilities
were convenient. Nearest one was fifteen miles and almost a half-hour
of driving away.
And
so goes story number two, generically told.
A
thought occurred to me as I drove to the local post office with
my return the other day. And it was this: as the U.S. Postal Service
tries to overcome challenges and struggles, the very best reason
for them to continue might come from an understanding that they
already exist.
Have
you been paying attention as companies with a national presence
attempt to set up distribution centers? The most celebrated and
widely discussed is usually Amazon. But I’ve watched as home improvement
companies and other groups look to operate from buildings in more
places that will assist with speed and shipping costs.
There
aren’t a lot of groups that manage to visit almost every address
in the country six days a week. First one you’d think of is the
U.S. mail delivery. The second one is, well, there isn’t a second.
Anyone
that has seen a post office truck drive up on a Sunday with a
package delivery will understand that increasing their involvement
is certainly not a completely original idea. In fact, you may
have also noticed that with some package deliveries, the final
leg of the journey involves the item being handed off to the post
office to get it to the door.
Crazy
thing. Deliveries.
Have
you noticed they’ve got an app for that? I don’t mean a UPS app.
Don’t mean any app at all. I mean when it comes to getting packages
from one place to another, they’ve swept in and overhauled the
system with a new method. And it’s becoming more and more evident.
Consider
ride sharing services. We all view them as taxi replacements,
but you know the groups I mean. Now expanded on those into a delivery
service for food, which given room and reason over the past two
years, has grown incredibly. And now, your packages from Best
Buy and Amazon and more may wind up on your doorstep with what
has every appearance of a private vehicle out front when it does
arrive.
I
have no clue what this honestly means. I don’t know the vetting
process, insurance requirements or anything else that goes into
placing a package, a pizza or even me into a car. But one thing
I can tell you is that when the U.S. Postal Service is claiming
to be in need of additional revenue (and even ways of generating
that revenue), all possibilities of package delivery should be
on the table.
If
nothing else, with so many stations across the United States,
they are five steps above any other suggested option as a return
center possibility.
A
UPS drop off for most? Not that close. FedEx? Also inconvenient.
Amazon desk in a retailer? I’d drive past at least five post office
branches getting to one.
So,
here’s the end result. If the USPS wants to thrive and be a vibrant
part of things tomorrow, they need to seize opportunity today.
All the parts are in place. We aren’t talking massive expenses
to get buildings placed or vehicles on the road.
The
only question becomes whether or not they recognize an opening
is available. If they don’t do it soon, that option will be filled.