Future-gazing in the US and Global Postal Industry
In the parcel field, the Callan sees the automated parcel locker terminal as a particular technology that is becoming mainstream in Europe, and introduced to other markets as far afield as South America and Asia, but is still to be embraced in North America other than a few Amazon forays into 7-11 grocery stores.
Austrian firm KEBA, which pioneered the technology with Deutsche Post more than 12 years ago, will discuss the opportunities that parcel lockers present the United States.
“It’s not new, but it’s new to the American marketplace,” Callan says. “We’ll talk about what the challengers are and possible solutions. Issues about carrier-driven models versus consumer-driven models.”
Up, up and away
Other parcel innovations being discussed will include the next-generation technologies in parcel packing and labeling, but it looks likely that the possibilities presented by autonomous vehicles and unmanned ground or aerial transport will really catch the imagination this year.
Amazon has been testing drone technology already, as has DHL and if reports are to be believed, UPS and others as well including China’s SF Express. A group of young Australian entrepreneurs is already using these unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver textbook rentals to students in Sydney, and this company — Flirtey — will be on hand at PostalVision to share their thoughts.
PostalVision will also hear from former Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson, who now runs a company that produces unmanned aerial vehicles, and Andreas Raptopoulos, the chief executive of Matternet, a company developing the concept of entire networks of drones coordinating country-wide logistics.
Andreas Raptopoulos, the chief executive of Matternet, will discuss a logistics future based on networks of unmanned aerial vehiclesWhile Matternet’s broad vision may seem like a fanciful, far-off idea for modern industrial nations, Callan points out that drones could prove surprisingly effective in countries where there are no roads.
“The market for this initially is in Africa where there is no conventional road infrastructure or even telephone,” he says. “As we all know they all went immediately to mobile phones so they didn’t have to worry about conventional infrastructure.
“Ultimately it’s about establishing a drone network around the world that would have drones coming in to drop their batteries and perform the delivery and then move onto another site.”
Digital communications
The second day at PostalVision is devoted to the world of digital communications, but as with the first day’s discussion in the parcels field, Callan is keen to come at a slightly different angle than a lot of postal conferences, placing an emphasis on what it is that the end consumer wants from postal communications, rather than what the postal industry can sell.
PostalVision regular Matt Swain of Infotrends will present research he has been leading with the USPS Office of the Inspector General in which focus groups across the US have been offering their views on what they want from the Postal Service. Brody Buhler of Accenture will also speak on his company’s latest research of what consumers want across the globe.
David Williams, the USPS Inspector General and another future-gazing PostalVision regular, will lead a discussion on the value of mail for digital natives, since these younger generations will be the future for this industry.
Callan says the event will look at both “truly digital communications”, but also the important additions that digital technology can provide for conventional physical mail communications.
He says physical and digital communications may seem to be diverging at the moment, but areas like hybrid mail provide a “digital front end” to the business of physical mail delivery, while areas like online identity authentication can make use of the physical post office network, for identity verification, and trusted Postal Service brand to enhance the overall levels of security in the digital world.
“There isn’t an entity that’s going to do this on its own, not even Amazon”
“This is a path that we think is diverging, but one of the questions on this whole divergence issue is, will there be an opportunity to converge?” Callan asks. “Frankly I think some of the foreign posts have been able to do that — in other words use digital technology to support the delivery systems, and by using the digital applications as a digital front end to letters and parcels.”
As a result, PostalVision will hear from foreign posts including Deutsche Post DHL, which recently revealed that its ePost business is now generating EUR 100m of revenue each year, and Poste Italiane, which is taking the hybrid mail business model to other countries and other Posts, including Russia.
“Deutsche Post was really the first post to go private, and Klaus Zumwinkel, the chairman at that time really had the bold vision to reinvent and globalize a post, as a global logistics and communications leader,” says Callan, whose own long career in the industry has included years working with DHL before and after Deutsche Post’s involvement as shareholder and eventual owner of the logistics giant. “Zumwinkel’s vision has largely been carried out. What they do they do well, and make money out of it.”
Callan says he is keen for PostalVision to share the same kind of boldness of thinking, and it’s a mantra he’s been pushing ever since he founded the event four years ago out of a sense of frustration that the postal world was not sufficiently interested in the massive change, threats and opportunities represented by the digital world.
“This is something I really want to set PostalVision 2020 apart from any other conference,” he explains. “It’s truly about vision in the entire ecosystem. It’s an instigator or provocateur, to encourage entrepreneurs to invent new businesses, and for old models to reinvent themselves, adapt and move forward.
“And hopefully,” he adds, “in a collaborative fashion, and that’s a word I like to use — collaborative — because there isn’t an entity that’s going to do this on its own, not even Amazon.”
- James Cartledge is a freelance journalist and regular contributor to Post&Parcel.
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