With six months to go, the Postal Service’s Race for a $Billion campaign has brought in more than $500 million, despite the COVID-19 national health emergency.
The initiative, which began last fall, aims to raise $1 billion through employee-provided sales leads before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.
Through the end of March, the campaign achieved $510 million in new estimated annualized revenue, averaging about $20 million a week. USPS lead-generation programs brought in $485 million at the same point last year.
The campaign’s total is at $580 million as of April 23.
The economy went into a downturn in March after the spread of the COVID-19 virus prompted a national health emergency. Governors in several states issued stay-at-home orders and social-distancing guidelines, which forced many businesses to close and disrupted the operations of others.
The number of sales leads that USPS has received has dropped almost 50 percent since the crisis began.
“The COVID-19 emergency has really impacted the amount of leads coming in. But we have been able to keep up the revenue growth by the type of leads coming in,” said Lou DeRienzo, small-business senior sales specialist at USPS headquarters in Washington, DC.
Many businesses are now seeking ways to ship their products that had not done so in the past, or are looking to promote that they are still open or offering different services during the crisis.
“The lead opportunities are different now, but they are still out there,” DeRienzo said.
Employees can submit leads through the Business Connect, Clerks Care, Customer Connect, Mail Handlers, Rural Reach and Submit a Lead programs.
“I am really proud of how our employees have rallied and adapted their efforts to help small businesses during this crisis,” said Mary Anderson, small-business engagement director at USPS headquarters. “They are actually saving Main Street USA with their efforts.”
The Sales Blue page has more information about employee lead-sharing programs, as well as an updated ranking of all USPS districts in the Race for a $Billion campaign.
