Tag: North America

With a new structure to tackle the international market, the US Postal Service aims to get a bigger slice through co-operation rather than acquisitions. Last year, the USPS handled over 793 million pieces of international mail, which translated into USD 1.9 billion in revenues.

To lay the foundations of the international expansion drive, Paul Vogel, who was appointed managing director of international business and senior vice-president of the USPS last summer, has restructured the postal agency’s international activities, consolidating the separate elements into one global business unit.

The new organisation, which was recently unveiled, consists of five divisions. Besides the operations and global business management groups (the latter covers sales and account management), there are units for global finance and business analysis, global network strategy and technologies, and international postal services/partners (which manages international relations and Customs and liaises with the Universal Postal Union).

Yvonne Yoerger, a spokesperson for the USPS, said that the various elements existed previously, but they are now brought together under one umbrella to form a full, self-sustaining profit centre.

Other postal agencies have steered clear of the integrated express carriers, whom they regard as major competitors. In Yoerger’s eyes, the likes of FedEx and UPS are competitors as well as customers and service providers.

Vogel also sees room for growth in a number of markets, such as Eastern Europe and Latin America, but he is most bullish about Asia.

In terms of partnering with Asian postal agencies, the new USPS managing director sees a host of opportunities, ranging from helping postal authorities in less developed economies with infrastructure development and providing and exchanging advice and counsel to joint development of services.