Postmaster General David Steiner underscored the Postal Service’s 250-year history of supporting American commerce and communities — and its continued role as both a national institution and an economic platform — in his keynote address at the National Postal Forum in Phoenix on May 4.
USPS is “not just a public institution with a proud history,” he told the thousands of mailing and shipping professionals in attendance. “It is also an economic platform — one that has enabled American commerce for generations, and one that still matters deeply to our country’s future.”
He also stressed the organization’s broader role in the U.S. economy as the center of the $1.9 trillion mailing and shipping industry, and the imperative of changing with the times.
“The Postal Service you rely on is not standing still. Because the pace of change in commerce today is faster than ever, we do not get to choose whether the market changes. We only choose whether we are ready and whether we are agile enough to meet it.”
Other presenters included Doug Tulino, deputy postmaster general; Steve Monteith, chief customer and marketing officer; Greg White, vice president of network solutions; Margaret Pepe, executive director of product solutions; and Juan Nadal, vice president of strategic sales.
The topics they covered in the keynote session included:
• Establishing excellent service performance as the new normal;
• Investing in processing, logistics and transportation to advance modernization;
• Expanding digital and AI-enabled tools, including predictive arrival times, route optimization, fraud detection, contact center improvements, Smart Lockers, self-service kiosks, Informed Delivery and the USPS API Marketplace;
• Strengthening mail and shipping offerings to better support customers in an increasingly digital and AI-shaped marketplace; and
• Building more transparent, market-responsive ways of working with customers and partners to better align its network to business needs.
The National Postal Forum — taking place May 3-6 in Phoenix — is the mailing and shipping industry’s largest annual conference. Participants hear from USPS executives, attend educational workshops and network.
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