In this episode, we are joined by Linda Malone, VP of Applied Engineering, to showcase how USPS is at the forefront of technology. The conversation explores the shift from traditional letter mail to doorstep parcel delivery and how technology is enabling USPS to transform its network to adapt to this change. From high-speed sorting systems to the role of AI in improving efficiency and tracking, discover how these USPS advancements are creating new services and value for customers across the nation.
What tech goes into powering a modern delivery network? Go beyond the iconic mail truck and into the world of technology-driven logistics and robotics at the postal service. Join the Mailin’ It! team as USPS’s VP of Applied Engineering Lina Malone pulls back the curtain on the organization’s massive tech innovations – from colossal, automated sorting hubs to a digital backbone that can predict failures before they happen and pinpoint delivery window times. USPS is building the speed and intelligence needed for mail and package delivery in the 21st century.
Karla:
Hello and welcome to Mailin’ It! the official podcast of the United States Postal Service. I'm Karla Kirby.
Jeff:
And I'm Jeff Marino. You know, Karla, when people think about the Postal Service, they probably picture our iconic white mail trucks and our mail carriers out delivering in the neighborhoods. What a lot of folks probably don't realize is the amount of sophisticated technology that's needed to get those deliveries to our homes and businesses.
Karla:
That's a good point, Jeff. Behind the scenes, the Postal Service has always been at the forefront of technology. Just to give a few examples, we introduced automated letter sorters in the 1950s and optical character recognition to help machines read names and addresses in the 1960s. We also have been using and improving advanced barcoding systems since the nineties. And then there's all the cool digital technology we've introduced over the past few years.
Jeff:
Exactly, and there's no letting up. Technology is more important than ever to the Postal Service thanks to the e-commerce boom.
Karla:
That's right. Well, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's introduce this episode's guest. Linda Malone is our VP of Applied Engineering and she's going to help us dig deeper into the Postal Service’s technology story and tell us a little bit about what's on the horizon. Linda, welcome to Mailin’ It!
Linda:
I am so excited to be here again. So thank you for the invitation and thank you for the welcome.
Jeff:
Well, Linda, the Postal Services invested heavily over the last four years on new sorting and processing equipment, so processing facilities can be more efficient and attract packages in real time. And all of that's backed by cutting edge digital infrastructure that uses automation and artificial intelligence to keep our systems online and running smoothly. What's driving these investments?
Linda:
That's a great question, Jeff. Mainly our letter volume and our letters are, or your bill payments or your birthday cards. Our letter volume has been dropping drastically over the years, primarily due to electronic diversion. So there's more email out there, people are emailing, people are calling. There's other ways of doing chats and texts. So we see that volume decreasing significantly. On the other side, we see parcel volume increasing because the reliance on parcels and the convenience of getting your parcel delivered on your doorstep is very attractive to most customers and they want that. So while we understand that our customers, it's critically important to have both letters and their packages and it's critically important on both types. For the Postal Service, we have made a decision that we needed to invest in our parcel technology because those two types of mail products are vastly different. So you picture your letters and then you picture your packages and the variability on the size of packages where the label is the type of label, there are a lot of differences and there are a lot of challenges. So what we have done is we have invested heavily in our personal sorting capabilities.
Karla:
So Linda, for our listeners, so we use the word “parcels,” we use the word “package.” Are those interchangeable? Are those pretty much the same thing, the pretty boxes we get on the doorstep?
Linda:
Absolutely. They are the exact same thing for the Postal Service. When we refer to a parcel or package, they are synonymous to us and interchangeable.
Karla:
Great. I think that'll help out some of our listeners. So when you look at the growing demand for package delivery in a market that's so competitive, that's a big challenge. Where do you start?
Linda:
Well, step one is understanding what our customers’ needs are. We need to understand that the customers, where do they wanna insert their packages and where do they want their packages to exit our network? And once we understand that, then we can go about designing facilities to meet that forecasted volume. So we spend a lot of time researching and understanding what our customers want next. Then once we have that understanding, we wanna design the most efficient mail-in package processing facility that we can. We standardize those designs. We have an entire department that does standardization so that when we put up new facilities we can replicate that quicker, take anything that we learned from a previous activation and apply it to a future one. Then we invest and we invest in sophisticated machinery. We invest in the research of the technologies that's out there, but most importantly, we invest in our people. We are a people organization, so we invest in training to make sure our folks know the new technology, are comfortable with it, and are able to optimize the capabilities of the new parcel sorters.
Jeff:
So now that you've invested in them, what, what kind of volume are we talking about? How many machines, where are they going? How much processing?
Linda:
It's cool that you asked that because prior to 2020 we had about 500 parcel sorting machines nationwide. In the last five years, we've more than doubled that. So we deployed about 570 new parcel sorting machines into our network. So that is huge. On the other side is we have deployed some supersized parcel sorters, which have increased capacity up to a million pieces or a million parcels per day. So we have done an enormous job in increasing the capacity for our processing facilities nationwide and theoretically we could process up to about 85 million parcels in a single day, which is pretty phenomenal
Jeff:
It is. So let's talk a little bit more about the technology. You go to the right places where the technology will have the biggest impact. What kind of equipment specifically do you bring in to manage a place like let's just say Atlanta for example, where we've got the regional processing and distribution center?
Linda:
Absolutely. So Atlanta was our first one that we brought up and it's Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center. We call it the Atlanta RPDC. It was a brand new building over a million square feet and it was purposely built to be able to consolidate smaller other plants that are in that geographic area so that we could have economies of scale. In consolidating that work in a single location that allows us to create fuller containers. It allows us to have better utilization in our trucks and it reduces the number of outgoing nodes we have in our network. It's a game changer in Atlanta.
Jeff:
And we built a brand new machine just for that facility. Tell me about that.
Linda:
So the brand new machine is called a MARS machine and it's a matrix regional sorter. It's about 140,000 square feet and it has the capability of sorting over a million unique packages. It's a strand sorter where you have individual strands. In Atlanta, we have eight and they act as one sorting machine. They have the ability to take packages without any human intervention, determine what kind of package that is, and process it to its final destination within that facility so we can put it right into a truck and send it on its merry way.
Karla:
So you mentioned the Atlanta facility is about a million square feet in size. I looked it up and that's like the size of about 17 football fields or 14 city blocks. What other new technology have we installed there to be able to manage such a large operation?
Linda:
We have, not new technology, but what we have done is since we put all the letters for the state of Georgia and all the flats for the state of Georgia and all the packages for the state of Georgia are in this one facility. So it really acts like a gateway into the entire state and of which we have about 7 million delivery points there. So it's very unique in that everything touches to get to any of that geographic area there. So on that, on the workroom floor, we have letter machines, we have flat machines, then we have machines that handle what we call non-actionables and they would be like your fishing rods, your big boxes. The Army sometimes sends home their gear. So we have bumpers. I mean there's an array of non-machinables that we have that we work there also. So, this is a big facility that that serves as that gateway.
Jeff:
Is the MARS machine in any other locations?
Linda:
We have right now up to four MARS machines. So the first one we had in Atlanta, it started in peak of 2023, and Chicago was right behind it a few months later. Then one year later, Indy joined the group, Indianapolis. And so we have a MARS machine in Indianapolis. Right now we're working on the New Jersey and the New Jersey will be by far the biggest. We're gonna have 12 strands in the New Jersey MARS matrix sorter. That is about 80% done. So we're very excited about opening up that new facility and the capabilities there.
Jeff:
So you mentioned this, this one in New Jersey is gonna be 12 strands. So it sounds like they're really modular and can fit into, into different facilities, but you have other machines too that have interesting acronyms. I'm thinking like the, the MIMS, the MEWS
Linda:
When we look at different markets and we look at the technology that's available, these are still matrix sorters, but they're, they're smaller in size and in scope. So the MIMS is in Dallas and it's a multiple induct matrix and it has the capability of sorting well about 750,000 parcels in a single day. And then in Phoenix they have the MEWS, which is a matrix east west facility. And what that facility does is it takes mail coming either from the east or the west. It combines it with all the originating sites coming in there and then it sends to destination full containers and full trucks.
Jeff:
It seems like the equipment that you've been talking about that we've been talking about automates our operations at a much higher level than we've ever done before, but you're not just processing more packages than ever. You're also tracking them and sharing that information more than we ever have. Tell me about that.
Linda:
Well, now that is customer driven. Not only do we need to be very, very efficient in processing packages and be timely in the processing of those packages, but we also need to have the visibility of that package so that our customers can better prepare for their arrival of their packages. So we have spent a lot of investment in technology and letters in the years past and now we are investing that same level of visibility into our packages so the customer can track their packages as a processes through our network. The other game changer that we have done in concert with our mailing community is this past January we required what we're calling an IMMB and that's an intelligent mail matrix barcode. And if you look at your shipping labels on anything delivered by the Postal Service, you'll see different barcodes on that shipping label.
Linda:
The older one is a longer linear barcode and it usually has USPS underneath that barcode. Part of the problem with that is that when people applied our labels, they would apply it maybe around a corner or they would apply it on a poly but it was crinkled up when they applied it. So when it goes through our equipment, we can't read it. In the past, our goal was just get it to the customer. So we do have technology that's able to read the address block and say, Hey Jeff, I'm gonna send the package to you. The problem is, you lose all visibility and right now that is very concerning. When somebody mails a package, we tell 'em, here's your number, you can go look it up, you can track it, and then for whatever reason we can't read the barcode. So, you know, one day it shows up on your front porch, but you've lost all of that visibility.
Linda:
So these new barcodes are like a QR code that you see maybe at the grocery store. So you can put 'em on a can of tomatoes, you can put 'em on a loaf of bread, you can put 'em on a, on a frozen set of peas. Regardless of what packaging you have, we have a very high incident of being able to read them. So in one seven month period last year what we did is we looked and said, just tell me how many times I just read the 2D barcode 'cause we read all the barcodes and then make a decision. We read it 289 million times. In that seven month period, had we not had the 2D barcode, we would've lost total visibility. Now it would've gotten delivered, it would've gone through our processes, but the mailer would not have visibility on it and the end customer would not have visibility on it. So this is a game changer, our ability to marry the digital with the physical package.
Karla:
So we've talked about some really interesting technology and thrown around some pretty big numbers. How do you turn all of that into new offerings that Postal Service customers can take advantage of?
Linda:
For years now, we've had what's called Informed Delivery and you can sign up, anybody can sign up for Informed Delivery, you can go to InformedDelivery@usps.com. Informed Delivery on the letter side of the house gives you a picture of each of your mail pieces as it processes through our last machine process. And then you could see your water bill, you could see the happy birthday from Aunt Irma. You would be able to see that and have visibility into your letter arena. We are doing the same thing with our packages. We do not have the image yet, we're working on that, but we have the process whereby you can track your package so that you know when your package is gonna be delivered. So we launched a new mobile app this past year and we're so excited and it's gotten some rave reviews. You can go to the Apple store or Google Play to, to sign up for it. And in this app we actually send to you information about your package. So in the past, if you came to a retail counter, we would give you a 95 barcode. It's probably, I don't know, 10 or 11 digits. You'd have to go to our website, type that in, you would see the latest visibility at that point in time. Then you would have to go back again and again to see it move. In this app, we can tell you what's happening to your package and where it is going.
Jeff:
So Informed Delivery is a great example of how Postal Services introduce new technology that customers can take advantage of. I mean we introduced that back in I believe 2017 and there's about 74 million users now. Is that right?
Linda:
No, we have three more million users since the last time I was with you.
Jeff:
So 77? Alright,
Linda:
And I think that's what makes our app so desirable is that we are adding new features at all the time. So the latest new feature is a mail delivery notification. We understand that our customers mail very important things. It could be computers, it could be iPhones it could be a medical device and that the timing of that delivery is absolutely critical. Because we've all heard the horrific stories about porch pirates. So what you can do now is sign up for mail delivery notification. We can tell you within a two hour window when your package is gonna be delivered. That way if you're at work or if you wanna call a neighbor or if you wanna call your kid, hey, make sure you pick up the package that's being delivered in the next two hours, you have that window of delivery that allows the customer to take better ownership and possession of their parcels when delivered.
Jeff:
I was one of the early adopters of informed delivery. I get the daily email, I can see what's coming in my mail, should I upgrade to the app? Should I move to the app? Are there any advantages of going to the app over what I get in my email?
Linda:
You get more you get more information regarding your packages. So in the Informed Delivery, I think you have to sign up for the packages in a separate way, where the app would give you that and then you can sign up for your two-hour window through that app also.
Karla:
So we've talked quite a bit about automation, but not too much about artificial intelligence. What role is AI playing in our technology strategy?
Linda:
We've had AI for some time in our toolbox, but what we haven't had is machine learning and automation improvements through modeling. And that is very, very exciting to us right now. What we've invested in is, so I talk about these huge machines, 140,000 square feet. New Jersey's gonna be 300,000 square feet. It is very difficult for our maintenance side of the house to be able to manage and optimize the running of that equipment. They can't be everywhere at every moment of the day. So what we are doing is we are installing sensors and monitors so that if we hear a vibration on a belt that tells us, hey, this belt's probably gonna break, we can feed that information to one of our wonderful technicians and they can go and repair that in these buildings that sort a million parcels a day.
Linda:
So as a plant manager in Harrisburg, I don't think I sorted a million parcels in a week. So to have a facility with this type of volume, you do not want it to go down at any point due to a breakage or a failure. We have predictive windows where we have maintenance take care of the machine every day, but you don't want that machine to go down at any other time. So what we're seeing with AI is that we can monitor vibrations, we can monitor sound, we can monitor temperature, and we can feed that information into a model so that we can become predictive as to what part needs to be changed before we suffer a breakage. What we also have, and this has been around for a little bit, is in our customer call centers, we have an AI agent, we call her Ava, and Ava's able to handle about 50% of our chat calls that come in from our customers. We see a real application for AI in helping our customers get immediate attention to their problem or their concern or their question by being able to answer that.
Jeff:
Just as a follow up in there, are there any specific jobs or expertise that we're going to need in the future to support this technology and this AI?
Linda:
It's a great question. So anything maintenance, mechanical engineers, we have brought up a field of industrial engineering because we understand the importance of training. So the, the standard work, the videos on standard work we do videos. So if you're on the workroom floor and somebody doesn't understand a certain process, you can take out a tablet and show them immediately. We need that support structure to ensure optimization of the, of the mechanical processes. So yes, there is a need and if anybody wants to come work for your Postal Service, we are a great employer and would love to have you.
Karla:
Absolutely an employer of choice. So Linda, you've talked about how using the new machinery specifically in Atlanta has been a learning experience. What else have you learned and where do we go from here?
Linda:
We've learned a lot every activation and implementation. We have learned good things and we've learned things that we never wanna repeat. So, and incorporating those learnings into the next implementation is absolutely critical, which is why we have a dedicated team that does that. Back in Atlanta, we are back well we're finished now. We finished right before peak with a supplemental sorter. So again, this is an addition to the MARS machine that will allow us to sort up to over 350,000 more parcels in a day. And the old machine would have an outlet where if we didn't know what to do at the parcel, we're gonna send it there. The supplemental will allow it to stay on the backbone and be finalized totally within the system. Again, not requiring human intervention of pulling away the parcels and reintroducing them onto another sorter. So we're very excited about that.
Linda:
We also have a brand new machine that our engineering team did a fantastic job at designing. We have about 19 or 20 out that are fielded right now. The first one was in Dulles and it's called a PILS. So it's a parallel induct linear sorter. It's a much smaller machine. It takes about the square footage that's needed is about 27,000 square foot. So you look at something in New York that's gonna be over 300,000 square feet. So it's a very different complexity, but it fills a niche in a lot of our plants and gets the job done highly efficiently. The machines we had before did between maybe three and 4,000 pieces an hour. This does consistently 7,000 to 8,000 pieces per hour. Again, looking at our deployment of these machines, it takes about four weeks, our MARS machine takes about six to nine months. So there's a big difference in our ability to be able to deploy these and bring them up quickly in an environment.
Jeff:
Yeah, I was thinking that if we don't have a million square foot facility, we have a smaller facility like Dulles, a machine like this will be something you could slot right in.
Linda:
Dulles is doing an incredible job. The employees there, I am just so proudful of the employees that are working there. When you invest heavily in brand new technology that we have not had before, there is a level of foundation where you spend a lot of money, you put a lot of capital, but then it takes a little bit for everything to come together. The work methods, the employees adoption rate, the supervisors and how they manage the new environments. Many of our employees had to move from one place to another place. So we see an outlay of capital expenditures and it takes a little bit to see the complete ROI and when I say a little bit, it's almost like years before the ROI comes in, but it comes in then in staircases, you like jump up and then you jump up. This past peak we had such a great peak due to the capacity that we had in the field.
Linda:
Operations just did a spectacular job. We didn't have to hire as nearly as many peak employees as we had in the past. We were able to take that volume in, put it on machinery, give it visibility. So we are seeing huge ROIs and we know that that will continue in the future. We are looking at these kind of campuses approach in the next 200 list would be Dallas campus, which would be Fort Worth and Dallas and then Southern California, which has nine or 10 plants in southern California we have LA and San Diego, San Bernardino. So there's a lot of opportunities to give them additional equipment so that we can optimize that region of the United States.
Jeff:
Linda, thanks so much for coming back and pulling back the curtain on what's going on in your world behind the scenes in the Postal Service. You've certainly got your hands full, but it sounds like we're making a lot of progress.
Linda:
We are and it's an exciting time to be part of this industry and be able to deliver packages to our customers.
Karla:
Always informative, learned a lot.
Karla:
Today it is time for another edition of Did You Know? when we share interesting facts about the Postal Service. What do you have for us today, Jeff?
Jeff:
This one's about a very famous former postal employee. Did you know that Abraham Lincoln himself once worked for the Post Office Department?
Karla:
I actually did know that, but I don't know much about his tenure. Tell me more.
Jeff:
Well, back in 1833 during the administration of Andrew Jackson, 24-year-old Lincoln was appointed Postmaster of New Salem, Illinois. And by all accounts, he took his job very seriously.
Karla:
You're not going to tell us he delivered mail, are you?
Jeff:
Actually, he did. Mail arrived only once a week and if people didn't stop by to pick up, which was usually how they got their mail back then, Lincoln himself would deliver often carrying letters around in his hat.
Karla:
That feels very on brand.
Jeff:
Karla:
I wonder if the people of Springfield had any idea of what honest Abe would go on to accomplish.
Jeff:
I wonder.
Jeff:
Well, Karla, seeing Linda again is great. She's got so much information that's just off the top of her head. But my takeaway from this episode is just the amount of automation that goes on behind the scenes that people don't see. As we started off, people are used to seeing their carriers picking up mail or deliver mail, but the amount of manual handling behind the scenes is so minimal. Linda said less than 1% of all of the mail in packages that goes through the system is actually processed by people. And that's just a massive amount and numbers. She's thrown out millions and billions it’s just staggering. The amount of mail that gets processed by automation without human involvement is staggering.
Karla:
Now what I found very interesting is it's millions of packages and I did get an opportunity to see it in the Atlanta facility. And yes, it is massive, but just to think if we're doing that now, what's next?
Jeff:
Yeah, crazy. But I know Linda's got a handle on what's coming next.
Karla:
Absolutely. So that's all for this episode of Mailin’ It! Don't forget to subscribe to Mailin’ It! wherever you get your podcast to make sure you don't miss the next episode and follow along on Instagram @USPostalService, X @usps, Facebook and youtube.com/@usps.