USPS lay their cards on the table
Facing declining mail volume, workforce cuts through employee buyouts and the possible closure of hundreds of post offices, the USPS has a new “get well” remedy – greeting cards, reports The Washington Post. The article continues:
About 1,500 post offices nationwide started selling Hallmark greeting cards two weeks ago, part of a one-year experiment that may lead all 34,000 postal outlets to sell the cards and offer other goods and services, including banking, insurance and cellphones.
About 7bn cards are sold annually, totaling more than $7.5bn in sales, the association said. About a third of the greeting cards sent each year are for birthdays, according to GCA statistics.
Of the 7bn cards, about 4bn are mailed, accounting for about 2% of total mail volume, said Robert F. Bernstock, president of mailing and shipping services for the Postal Service.
“If we can get some energy behind greeting cards, which are incredibly linked to the mail, what better place to sell them and merchandise them than at our post offices?” Bernstock said.
A Postal Service study confirmed that customers think selling greeting cards at post offices is appropriate and that they would buy them there, Bernstock said. The goal is for the cards to help boost postal retail sales by 30 to 40%.
A 2006 law allows the Postal Service to sell various mailing and packaging products and other mail-related items, including cards. Officials awarded the one-year deal to Hallmark’s Sunrise Greeting card line, with the option to extend the deal for two more years.
“I think we’re going into it with a little optimism that we’ll be able to expand to a greater number of retail outlets,” Bernstock said.
