Tuesday, January 9, 2024
USPS is working to deliver more return packages
The effort is part of the organization’s focus on growing its shipping business
The holiday season is over, but the shipping season isn’t.
Consumers are expected to return $173 billion worth of holiday purchases from 2023, 28 percent more than the previous year, according to Optoro, a company that helps merchants manage their returns process.
This makes returns an important source of growth for the Postal Service’s package business.
“We want to be the only choice for customers who have merchandise they want to return,” said Catherine R. Knox, shipping and commerce product management director.
To meet demand for easy, convenient return methods, the Postal Service offers Click-N-Ship, which allows consumers to print shipping labels online, and USPS Label Delivery, which delivers return and outbound labels to both residential and business addresses.
Customers can also visit a Post Office full-service retail window or self-service kiosk to print return labels using QR codes.
To further help consumers with their returns, USPS offers complimentary packaging and Package Pickup, as well as shipping products such as Priority Mail Returns, Priority Mail Express Returns and USPS Ground Advantage Returns, which each include $100 worth of insurance.
To help merchants, USPS offers a universal shipping permit that covers Parcel Return Service, USPS Returns and outbound products.
The Postal Service also makes it easy for merchants to obtain return shipping labels that can be included with a customer’s order.
Employees can support the Postal Service’s efforts to grow its returns business through timely and accurate scanning, which helps both customers and merchants track return packages.
“Scanning is of the utmost importance,” said John Samuels III, a shipping and commerce product management specialist. “We can’t emphasize that enough.”
On the Job
Miles of smiles
This carrier enjoys every step of his route
My name is Likkasit Siriviboon and I’m a letter carrier at Burke Branch in Springfield, VA, where my route includes both homes and businesses.
I walk more than 10,000 steps a day.
Before I joined the Postal Service in 2013, I was a manager at a busy restaurant. Customers don’t like to wait when they’re hungry, and USPS customers don’t like to wait for their packages.
When I’m delivering Certified Mail or packages that I know my customers are waiting for, I always knock three times to let them know I have an important delivery.
I’ve delivered everything — chicken, fish, diamonds. One customer told me he was expecting a package with a ring for an engagement proposal. I handled that one with extra care.
I’m from Thailand and came to the United States in 2008 when I was 27 years old to be near my sister, who lives in the Washington, DC, area.
I was always interested in a postal career. USPS has job security, good benefits and a good retirement plan, so after working in the restaurant business, I applied for a position at my local Post Office.
When I’m not at work, I enjoy taking care of my family. My son, Quint, is almost 3. He likes to wear his carrier costume; he wants to grow up to be a carrier like me. My wife, Nalina, is pregnant, so I’ve been doing more cooking, grocery shopping and getting the house ready for our own special delivery — a baby girl.
Part of my job involves training new carriers, so I try to set a good example. I look at it as having two families — one at work and one at home.
“On the Job,” a column on individual employees and their contributions to the Postal Service, appears regularly in Link.
The Postal Service offers virtual fitness classes for employees
The activities include dance-oriented cardio, strength training and yoga
The Postal Service offers employees free virtual fitness classes every weekday.
The classes cover a variety of activities, including chair exercise; dance-oriented cardio; high-intensity interval training, also known as HIIT; meditation; strength training; yoga; and Zumba.
To see the schedule, employees can go to the USPS Wellness LiteBlue page and select the “HQ Fitness Center” tab. Although the classes are offered through USPS headquarters in Washington, DC, all employees with online access can participate.
Registration is not required.
Participation is voluntary and must be off the clock or on authorized breaks.
Employees who have questions can email the Benefits and Wellness team.
USPS reports stable first-quarter delivery performance
During fiscal year 2024’s first quarter (Oct. 1 through Dec. 29), the Postal Service delivered 85.4 percent of First-Class Mail on time when compared with the organization’s service standard, according to data released Jan. 5.
First-Class Mail performance was down 5.7 percentage points when compared with the previous quarter.
Also during the first quarter, 93.8 percent of Marketing Mail was delivered on time, a decrease of 1.5 percentage points from the previous quarter, and 80.8 percent of Periodicals were delivered on time, down 5.2 percentage points from the previous quarter.
The average time for USPS to deliver a mailpiece or package across the nation was 2.7 days.
USPS is already gearing up for the holidays
The organization has announced new seasonal stamps
The Postal Service has announced four new art-inspired stamps for the 2024 holiday season.
The Holiday Joy stamps will feature two colorful Christmas ornaments, a vibrant poinsettia surrounded by greenery, and a whimsical blue flower centered against green leaves and delicate scrollwork.
Antonio Alcalá, an art director for USPS, designed the stamps using original digital illustrations by Michelle Muñoz.
The stamps will be available in booklets of 20.
USPS announced the stamps Jan. 5.
Other stamps were announced last year, with more to be revealed in the weeks and months to come.
All designs are preliminary and subject to change.
View past printouts
Printout details
What's included
-
USPS is working to deliver more return packages
-
On the Job
Miles of smiles
This carrier enjoys every step of his route
-
The Postal Service offers virtual fitness classes for employees
-
Brief
USPS reports stable first-quarter delivery performance
-
USPS is already gearing up for the holidays
The organization has announced new seasonal stamps