In this episode, we’re diving into USPS’ Post Office retail modernization efforts aimed at creating a more efficient and customer-friendly experience. Experts Tracy Raymond and Bob Dixon join us to discuss upgrades at USPS facilities around the country, including renovated lobbies, improved layouts, digital signage, and expanded self-service kiosks. This modernization work will help USPS better meet customer needs, and it’s coming to a Post Office near you!
Director of Retail Operations, Tracy Raymond, and Director of Product Technology Innovation, Bob Dixon, join us to discuss the Postal Service's plans to modernize hundreds of its retail locations and Post Offices across the country. Tune in to hear how USPS is streamlining operations and upgrading the retail experience to better serve today’s customers.
Karla Kirby:
Hello and welcome to Mailing It, the official podcast of the United States Postal Service. I'm Carla Kirby.
Jeffrey Marino:
And I'm Jeff Marino. You know, Carla, we've talked a lot on the podcast about the big changes we're making in the postal services backend delivery network to be more efficient and cut costs, but we're also making a lot of improvements to our retail spaces to create a better experience for our customers. And in this episode, we're gonna take a tour of our retail modernization efforts, that includes our work to improve retail operations, expand self-service kiosks, and increase the number of government services we offer to our customers.
Karla Kirby:
Absolutely, Jeff, we'll talk about the modernization work we've already done at some of our sorting and delivery centers, as well as the work we'll be kicking off soon. Joining us today are two experts driving these changes. Tracy Raymond and Bob Dixon. Tracy leads our retail operations transformation and Bob heads up our product technology innovations. Tracy, welcome to mailing it. And Bob, welcome back.
Bob Dixon:
Thank you for having me.
Tracy Raymond:
Thank you. Super excited to be here.
Jeffrey Marino:
Tracy, the postal service is investing to update and improve hundreds of retail locations across the country. So can you tell us what's included in all of that work?
Tracy Raymond:
Sure. It is a major transformation that entails a new look and feel in the retail storefront. It also entails new retail technology with an emphasis on self-service capabilities, and then also the new build out of a government services storefront for added services.
Jeffrey Marino:
So can you tell us why we're doing this?
Tracy Raymond:
Absolutely. As you mentioned before, it's about the customer experience. It's about postal access within the community for the needed services. It's about self-service capabilities so that we can do better in the lines, reduce the lines, in fact, for our customers. You know, we wanna make sure that our customers have a, a, you know, a good experience in our retail storefront and that we're receptive to their needs.
Karla Kirby:
So Bob, why is the postal service putting so much effort and so many resources into upgrading our retail operations?
Bob Dixon:
So, you know, I have a history of putting things online. That's sort of what I do for the postal service. One of the things that's really exciting to do now is be a part of America's largest retail network. I think what people don't understand is that we have more retail locations than any other organization in the country with over 31,000 offices. If you take a look at our footprint, 95% of Americans are within five miles of a post office. That's incredible. It's a great opportunity to reach people. And then what better way to get technology in the hands of folks to serve themselves than to do it at a post office?
Jeffrey Marino:
So Tracy, what are we gonna see in one of these new retail operations? What are customers gonna be experiencing?
Tracy Raymond:
Okay, so the first thing they're gonna notice upon entering the post office is the new Wayfinder signage. So, for example, it's directional. We've got new color code systems within the storefront. So in the blue area that will indicate, hey, that's PO boxes, right? So we also have the rid self-service area. That's where all of our new latest and greatest self-service technology is housed. And then in the retail window area, the customers upon entering into our outer lobby will see all of the new retail technology, the self-service capabilities, the rapid drop off stations, the self-service kiosks. They will also see the new large in-wall drums. And then upon entering the window area, they will see new counter lines, new digital menu boards, everything's been redone from the ceilings to the walls. And then they'll see happier employees that feel good about places that they work.
Jeffrey Marino:
As a follow up to our postal facilities are all different sizes, all different shapes. How did you come up with a layout that makes this as efficient to reduce wait time in line to optimize the space? Was there anything special that went into the considerations?
Tracy Raymond:
Well working with facilities and our retail modernization team we collectively have reassessed the storefront to determine the best fit. So that's why they're not technically at every single retail storefront. We looked more so at the sorting delivery centers because it does in fact represent, you know, the best of the best in terms of delivery and the outreach to over a million homes. Conversely, we're looking at the insourcing for customers within the community when we speak of retail. So, you know, we wanted to make sure that the sites that we identified leveraging their footprint, print, leveraging the square footage, leveraging different analytics to transactional data to make sure that we were able to make decisions that would represent which sites we would pursue. And so it was a lot of information and then feedback from our customers as well, and the employees to get their feedback.
Karla Kirby:
So Bob, Tracy mentioned the self surface capabilities. Those aren't really new to the postal service retail areas, but it sounds like we have bigger plans with these renovated locations. What exactly does that include in the self-service space?
Bob Dixon:
You know, as Tracy mentioned, a couple of the technologies we've put out there, the self-service kiosks, which have been the staple of our, of our self-service offerings for years. We've added additional hardware, so the rapid drop-off station that Tracy mentioned. And in addition, we now have our Smart Locker platform. So not only can customers drop off packages, they can pick them up anytime of the day or night. In addition to the hardware we're putting out, we're adding new software to give these same hardware platforms more capabilities. One of the things that we're really excited about is our label broker platform. We know that fewer and fewer people have a printer at home. And you may still need to do a return or you may need to ship a package. Well, with a label broker platform, you can start your label online and then you can come to the post office with a QR code and you can print that out at any number of devices that are self-service.
Bob Dixon:
So the self-service kiosk, the rapid drop-off station, or even our smart lockers so that you don't have to have the ability to print at home. In addition to printing the label, you also get that first scan. So if you are, for example, a small business and it's important to you to show your customer that you've mailed their package to them, you can go into any one of those platforms, get your label, scan it, and then drop it in a drum drop the retail counter, and that customer will see that you've been there, that you've entered their package and it's on its way to you.
Karla Kirby:
So in addition to the label label list, I could say returns, is it true that we're also offering packaging?
Bob Dixon:
So coming up very soon for anyone doing a return, you'll be able to bring your unpackaged item into a self-service lobby. You'll be able to take a poly bag from a rack that will be displayed there. You'll be able to print your label, drop your item in the bag, put the label on it, and then enter the package just like any other package you had that was already packed, that already had packaging, it's a lot of words for package, but the idea is you don't have to have it. It can be very easy for you. You can just show up with your item and take care of the entire process right there in the retail lobby.
Jeffrey Marino:
So for several years now, the postal services offered customers a variety of government services for the convenience of their neighborhood post office. So Tracy, tell me how that's gonna play into the retail modernization plan.
Tracy Raymond:
So within the retail modernization plan, we have a new government services storefront. So as you mentioned, our legacy or our cornerstone government services passports, we will now be launching PIV personal Identity Verification Services as well as FBI fingerprinting. So we're looking to expand government services that will also supplement passports from the Department of Labor in person proofing login.gov. We are also working on becoming certified for IAL two identity assurance verification, which then we could partner with more federal agencies to offer a myriad of identity verification services.
Karla Kirby:
So I know a lot of these improvements are underway. Now, Tracy, when can our listeners expect to see some of these modernization efforts start showing up at their local neighborhood post offices?
Tracy Raymond:
So for phase one of our retail sorting delivery center modernization efforts, we've got three that are active. So that is in Athens, Georgia, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and in Waco, Texas. Now we have nine more sites that will be active before the end of this fiscal year. And then we are also slotted to have six additional within FY 26. So more to come.
Jeffrey Marino:
Right. I was just gonna touch on you know, a lot of our postal facilities are kind of historic and they have murals and they're historic buildings and stuff. And how do you take that into consideration when you're considering the whole retail modernization?
Tracy Raymond:
Well, it, it, it really requires a lot of coordination between our facilities department as well as each state's historical team because we have to reassess what we can and cannot do. And so that limits us to making changes, say to some peel boxes or even some windows or tiles because of the, you know, the historical nature of it. So we do find kind of collaborative efforts that we could make some improvements, but we are more limited in that realm for making the transformation that we would really like to do, but we are able to make it improve overall.
Jeffrey Marino:
So Bob, how does the technology get worked into these facilities like that when you have the brand new facilities and you have some of the old ones?
Bob Dixon:
So we work very closely with Tracy's team to make sure that we put the right technology that's the right fit for that size of office. You know, and we've been, we've been working very closely now for well over a year to make sure not only are the s and DCS appropriately outfitted, but to the, to the comment earlier, all the little local post offices are starting to get technology as well. You know, we've put Smart Lockers in over 700 offices around the country. We're working with Tracy's team now to outfit another 2,600 offices with various flavors of some of the self-service technology we talked about earlier, to make sure that we're serving the needs of all those customers. It is a lot of work to make sure that we've got things that are appropriate for the customers and, you know, really appropriate for the size of the office. 'cause As you said earlier, they're not all the same size.
Jeffrey Marino:
Is there like a trickle down effect for the, for the facilities like that are getting the full treatment, but there's other post offices that may not be suitable for those, but you're saying there's actually like trickle down stuff that comes into play?
Bob Dixon:
Sure. So, not every office is going to get every piece of technology, but one of the nice things that we've done in working with Tracy's team is making sure that the capabilities are available on multiple pieces of technology. So while you may not have a self-service kiosk, for example, you may get a rapid drop off station. So again, you can still do label printing, you can still do those acceptance scans, you can still drop off your package without having that larger piece of technology in the lobby.
Karla Kirby:
So Bob, how long does it take to complete one of these retail transformations?
Bob Dixon:
I think the good news is the technology is, is sort of done right? You know, we've got most of the pieces in place right now, and so it is a matter of deploying. Some offices are more ready than others, but it really is, once the office is identified, a pretty quick process to get things installed. And, and more importantly, to work with Tracy's team to get the local resources trained so they're aware of how everything works, how their customers are gonna be engaging with it, and how they may need to engage with it.
Karla Kirby:
So we have a timeline. We have all of these great services. So Tracy, realistically, we've added these new services and we're continuing to add these new services to our retail locations. How long will it take before we know whether this is having an impact?
Tracy Raymond:
Well, I would say that generally speaking right out the door, right, so we have our point of sale. Overall satisfaction measurement is basically customer feedback at the time of transactional exchange. So we know immediately what our customers are saying as well as feedback from our clerks. So they're constantly highly engaged and giving us and providing feedback day to day.
Karla Kirby:
So have we seen an increase in the self-service usage with all of the new technology?
Tracy Raymond:
Absolutely, we have. We've seen a significant increase in the rapid drop off station as well as our SSK transactions.
Bob Dixon:
I will mention our rapid drop-off station, which was a brand new program just two years ago. The first deployment we did, we actually had to check the numbers because we weren't sure that that many packages were going to process through that piece of technology. But it was in some offices really tremendously successful because it did take load off the retail window and allow people to self-serve especially if they had a large number of label printing transactions, got those folks outta line and let the retail personnel really focus on some of the more complicated or or more complex transactions.
Jeffrey Marino:
Okay. So it sounds like this retail modernization program is both good for the general public and for the business customers. So Bob, how can small shippers take advantage of some of the changes that we're making in these retail locations?
Bob Dixon:
So, I think one of the things definitely to do is to take advantage of our label broker platform. It does allow you to print your labels, especially if you are, you know, a smaller shipper on, on a marketplace. And you may not have infrastructure at home to print all of those labels. We've made it very easy that you can print labels in batch at our RSS and I'm sorry, at our SSK and Rapid drop off station. So you can get one QR code and you'll print out all your labels, apply them, scan them, you know, you can have all of your packages ready and on their way to their customers pretty quickly. We also have our Smart Locker program, Smart Lockers. We're really encouraging folks to use it as a way to get packages to customers safely. I'm, I, I tell this story often and people you know, don't understand all the time when I say how many times I got kicked out of the BMG CD club, right? Because I lived on Capitol Hill in Washington and every one of those darn CDs got stolen. If I'd had a locker nearby, I would've had them ship those
CDs to that locker. So I had a safe location to go pick those up. If you're shipping high value items, we really encourage our vendors to look at the locker as an alternative delivery location.
Karla Kirby:
So when we talk about modernization, we know it's just not changing the face of our facilities, it's also about the community impact. So Tracy, you, you touched on our engagement in feedback. Can you share a little bit more, have we quantified the feedback or the impact we've had in the community and with our customers?
Tracy Raymond:
Actually we have. So more targetedly with the launch of Athens, we worked with the customer
experience team to conduct in-person reviews for our customers. So, the actual customers that were visiting the location over a three day period, we tasked them to provide feedback for us, and the feedback was phenomenal. So we will continue to replicate that at the launch of, of each of the retail modernization sites.
Jeffrey Marino:
So you've talked a lot about technology, you've talked about programs and stuff in there, but Tracy, a couple times you mentioned employees. I imagine that there needs to be some new training or retraining so that the employees that work in the retail centers are up to speed on the new services and the new programs. And you mentioned a couple times they're pretty excited about this. So can you talk about that?
Tracy Raymond:
Absolutely. So as part of our process, when we go in to assess a site, the first group that we actually meet with are the employees. We give them an update of what we're doing, why we're doing it, and how it can impact them and what their thoughts are to get their feedback. So generally speaking, it takes anywhere from three to six months based on that site. And we are engaged with the staff every week getting feedback understanding the, you know, customers and their feedback on the construction and the phases. And, you know, a lot of our best practices that we've launched have been a result of the feedback from our employees.
Jeffrey Marino:
So with some of these government services, I imagine there's some really specific requirements in gathering information and doing the identity proofing stuff. So can you talk about what goes into that or what the employees need to know and learn to be able to do that and, and, you know, adhere to the standards that are required?
Bob Dixon:
You know, there's been some very specific training particularly because we do have multiple flavors of government service. And so you know, our employees have been great in understanding what needs to be done for each service, really based on, based on the training that we provide. You know, I had the opportunity to go with Tracy to one of our government services sites in New York, and those employees were so excited to be a part of something new that they saw as a new product, new revenue for the postal service. They were all in. I mean, you, you couldn't, you couldn't contain those folks. They were so excited about what they were doing and what they were participating in. And that was just really encouraging, especially when we're talking about, you know, something we haven't necessarily tried before. That not only did they understand what they were doing based on the training, but they were
excited about it.
Karla Kirby:
So between, you know, Tracy and Bob, what can you share with our listeners? Where can they find out if these changes are coming to their local retail center? Is there anywhere online that they could find this information or should they visit their local retail store to get this information
Bob Dixon:
For some of the technologies that we have available? Now, you can go to usps.com and go to the PO locator option. The PO locator will tell you, well, we'll let you select which services you're interested in. And things like rapid drop-off stations and Smart lockers are options there. So if you're interested in trying out one of those technologies, you can search for it and see if there's one located near you.
Karla Kirby:
Now is that also available for identity verification only
Tracy Raymond:
For the FBI fingerprinting? So we do have it listed by post office and which sites as well as passports, but not for so let me back up. So for identity proofing for login.gov, it is at 19,000 RSS terminals or post offices nationwide. But for DOL Department of Labor IPP, it's only in a few states. We have not essentially launched that in every state. So it depends on which federal partner we're providing in person proofing services for.
Karla Kirby:
So for our listeners, what can we tell them about what services are available to them? You know, how can they find the closest retail location that offers these new bells and whistles?
Bob Dixon:
So, I think the easiest thing for folks to do is go out to usps.com and check out the PO locator. PO locator offers filters to show what services are available in which offices. And things like the Smart Lockers, the rapid drop-off station, are all options there. So if you'd like to see which of those self-service options are available, it's really easy to do a quick search to find them.
Tracy Raymond:
Now our in-person proofing through GSA is located at over 19,000 retail storefronts nationwide.
Karla Kirby:
And so they can find the post office locator@www.usps.com, correct? Correct. All right.
Jeffrey Marino:
Tracy, you are managing this program. If there's one thing you could tell our listeners about the efforts that they are putting into the retail modernization program, what could you tell 'em?
Tracy Raymond:
You know, this is for the communities that we serve. This is also to help our relevancy right future forward, but we wanna make sure that we change with the customers. You know, there's a big shift digitally and we need to be a part of that and we need to continue to evolve. I mean, modernization and transformation is in our name over 250 years. So we will continue to evolve to represent, you know, the brand and more importantly the communities that we serve.
Jeffrey Marino:
Alright, well Tracy, Bob, thanks so much for joining us today. I had a good time chatting with you guys. Learned a lot, Carla,
Karla Kirby:
As usual. Bob, thanks for coming back, Tracy. Well hope you'll come back in the future and talk with us as we continue to do this modernization push across the country. Thank
Tracy Raymond:
Thank you.
Bob Dixon:
Thank You. It's been great.
Karla Kirby:
It is time for another round of, did you know when we each share an interesting fact about the postal service? Jeff, do you wanna get us started?
Jeffrey Marino:
Mine takes a different look at our old friend, the zip code. We've talked on the podcast about why the zone improvement plan or zip code was created and how the postal service convinced people to use them back in the 1960s. But did you know what the different digits in the zip code stand for and that some zip codes are as long as 11 digits,
Karla Kirby:
11 digits. I can barely get my head around the nine digits. And those zip codes have been around since the early 1980s. I'm assuming 11 digit zip codes are pretty rare.
Jeffrey Marino:
Indeed they are. The 11 digit zip codes are mostly used by businesses to create delivery point barcodes. They help sorting machines sort mail down to the mailbox level.
Karla Kirby:
Does that mean that other digits also represent locations?
Jeffrey Marino:
They do. The first digit represents large regions of the country, so zero in the east to nine in the west. The next couple of digits represent your city or region. Digits four and five are for your post office facility or delivery area in nine digit zip codes, digits six and seven are for your sector or the area of your neighborhood. Eight and nine indicate the side of the street where you live.
Karla Kirby:
Okay. You seem to know a lot about zip codes. Quick quiz, how many zip codes are there in the United States?
Jeffrey Marino:
41,642 give or take. Okay. And I actually got that number from our website because I thought you might ask me that.
Karla Kirby:
Okay. My turn. Did you know the World's first Public Telegraph office was maintained and operated by the US Post Office department?
Jeffrey Marino:
You must have been on our website too.
Karla Kirby:
Absolutely, I was. But back to my story. On April 1st, 1845 service on the Washington Baltimore
The Telegraph line was opened to the public under the authority of the post office department. This was nearly a year after Telegraph inventor, Samuel Morris transmitted the first message and proved the technology actually worked. At the time Morse was superintendent of the Telegraph service, one of our more famous employees. By the end of 1846, the post office department turned over the system to a private company, which expanded the service as far north as Boston.
Jeffrey Marino:
And that wraps up this edition of Did You Know,
Karla Kirby:
So Jeff, it was great to have Tracy and Bob on. I'm really excited about the self-service additions. I can bring my returns without a package and print my label right at the postal service.
Jeffrey Marino:
Yeah, Bob's comment about not a lot of people, or not everybody has printers at home anymore. And I think about how much it costs just to get Ink
Karla Kirby:
I agree. And for our listeners, don't forget, if you wanna see what services are available and where they're available, you can visit www.usps.com and go to our PO locator. That's all for this episode of Mailing It. Don't forget to subscribe to mailing it wherever you get your podcast. To make sure you don't miss the next episode. And follow along on Instagram at US Postal Service on x, at usps, on Facebook and on YouTube.