OIG publishes findings of recent forum on transactional mail

The US Postal Service (USPS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has published a “Recap” summarising the key findings of a recent discussion forum on transactional mail. In the Executive Summary of the document published yesterday (9 September), OIG noted why the topic is so important for the postal industry and the business community: “Transactional mail may be facing an uncertain future. Many companies are trying to implement paperless billing, but the majority of their customers still prefer to receive their bills through the mail. Companies cannot afford to ignore this persistent consumer preference. Understanding this dynamic is important for the US Postal Service, as transactional mail accounts for about $18.5bn of its annual revenue.”

OIG gathered together both companies that employ transactional mail and trade associations representing the mail industry at the discussion forum so they could explore “how billers balance physical and digital communications, potential market disruptors, and how the Postal Service could increase its value to transactional mail customers”.

The participants found that USPS should consider taking steps now to enhance transactional mail and related services, as well as planning for potential disruptions.

More specifically, they identified four ways that USPS could “enhance value to its customers”:

• Physical-Digital Integration: “The Postal Service could help support companies’ initiatives to integrate digital elements into physical mailpieces, as part of the billing and payment process,” said the OIG report.
• Increase Speed of Delivery and Innovation: “Participants stressed the need for the Postal Service to ‘improve its speed’,both in terms of delivery and in its adoption of innovations,” said OIG.
• Digital Mailbox and Other Tools: “Companies in the transactional communications industry expressed interest in being able to offer consumers a one-stop shop for electronic bill presentment and payment,” said OIG, adding: “The potential demand for a digital mailbox exists, as it is projected that U.S. consumers will receive more than 2 billion paperless transactional documents in 2015, equating to $323 million in document delivery savings for companies.”
• Provide Data Analytics: “Companies at the event indicated they would like to take advantage of big data in every way possible, down to understanding the logistics and other metrics of bill delivery and customer payment,” said OIG. “While there are a number of software and data analytic companies aimed at improving mailer efficiencies, the Postal Service — as the primary handler of the mail and the owner of the physical infrastructure — is in a position to gather and analyse more data directly for its customers.”

Summing up the findings of the forum, OIG concluded: “Companies that send transactional mail are preparing and pushing for a paperless future. While it seems the Postal Service is not in imminent danger of transactional mail disappearing, at any given time a number of potential disruptors could drive a vast migration to digital. Rather than waiting to react to a potential decrease in mail volume, the Postal Service can take steps now to make the products and services it offers more valuable to both the bill sender and recipient.”

Click here to access the OIG Forum Recap Document.