This is the third episode of our executive series that introduces listeners to people in key leadership positions at the Postal Service. In this installment, we speak with Bob Dixon, the Postal Service's Director of Product Technology Innovation. Bob takes us through his fascinating career journey, from his early days in the dot com era to his work on groundbreaking projects like Informed Delivery. If you're interested in how tech innovation and problem-solving are shaping the future of the Postal Service, this episode is a must-listen.
This week on Mailin' It, we’re joined by Bob Dixon, USPS Director of Product Technology Innovation. Bob discusses his journey into technology and his role in the Postal Service's digital transformation, from pioneering Informed Delivery to addressing new challenges like mail theft. He provides an inside look at how his team is developing advanced keys and high-security electronic locks to protect collection boxes and ensure safe mail delivery. Tune in as Bob shares his insights on leadership and his approach to solving complex challenges, all while keeping USPS at the forefront of innovation.
Karla Kirby:
Hello and welcome to Mailin’ It, the official podcast of the United States Postal Service. I'm Karla Kirby.
Jonathan Castillo:
And I'm Jonathan Castillo. This episode, we've got the latest installment of our postal executive series, where we've been getting to know some of the key leaders here at the Postal Service. And today we're excited to introduce you to Bob Dixon, our Director of Product Technology Innovation. So, if I had to break down, what Bob does, I'd say he's the guy who helps figure out what's next for the Postal Service in terms of technology, and then makes it happen. A great example of this is Informed Delivery, a free service that gives you a digital preview of your incoming mail and updates on your packages. Did I get that right, Bob?
Bob Dixon:
So in all transparency, things happen really quickly at the Postal Service. Since I signed up to do this, I now have a new job and now I do still do Informed Delivery, but I'm now the Senior Director of Delivery and Retail Modernization. Informed Delivery is a part of that portfolio, but there's a lot of other stuff in there. Yeah, we don't go slowly at the Postal Service. So, I'm a little bit different than when you can change your mind now if you want and send me home!
Jonathan Castillo:
I think we'll keep you on.
Karla Kirby:
I'm saying, we've gotta keep up with the times. Okay. So, Bob, when you were first on the podcast and had a different title back in 2021, the conversation was more about your role at the Postal Service and about your work on Informed delivery. We'll get into that, but first we wanted to talk more about what led you to the Postal Service in the first place, and what made it such an interesting journey for you?
Bob Dixon:
So, I came to the Postal Service after being in the in the first dot com bubble in the, in the late nineties. I had worked for a startup. We had grown, we had about a hundred people, and eventually, like many startups, we were bought out. And I stayed with that company for about six months and I decided, you know, I didn't really feel like I wanted to be part of a really big organization. So of course I said, oh, look, the Postal Service has openings. And I came to the Postal Service really to do Y2K remediation as a contractor. I thought, you know, it's a good new experience. It's Y2K, maybe it'll lead to something else. Candidly, I never expected to stay that long but especially because I had left a company of a few hundred people and moved to a company of a few hundred thousand people and not, you know, thinking I wanted to be part of a large organization when I got here, it was really surprising to me that as an organization, the opportunities to explore technology and to implement technology at a huge scale was something I didn't really recognize when I was not a part of the Postal Service.
How technologically advanced we were, at least at that time, was not something a lot of people know about, especially I didn't know about. And so when I got here, it was this really sort of awakening about all of the opportunities that the Postal Service has for someone who's interested in technology. And so that was, you know, 25 years ago. And so I guess I liked it 'cause I'm still here.
Karla Kirby:
So I'm curious, so how do you make the transition from creative writing graduate degree, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon to technology?
Bob Dixon:
So my undergraduate degree is in, is in professional and creative writing, and my first job was as a technical writer for the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. So I worked there helping computational scientists learn to use the supercomputing resources that we had. Part of that was, you know, editing all of the very technical documentation that was going on. It was also at that time, bringing all of that documentation and training materials to the internet. You know, back then the worldwide web was black and white. A horizontal line dividing sections of your document was really out there on the cutting edge. And so I had the opportunity to be there at the very start. And I think for me it was easier a little bit to transition at the beginning of something really brand new and exciting than maybe, you know, jumping into it 15 years later when all the fun stuff had already been done.
Jonathan Castillo:
I was gonna say, it sounds like it was really good timing on your part when you decided to, you know, make that switch over. I mean, back in the nineties, what the internet was this like mysterious network of networks, right? That was mostly used by academics. And then almost overnight it just seemed like everybody wanted to learn how to use it.
Bob Dixon:
Yeah, absolutely. It was, it was what everyone wanted to do. If you, and I think the, the great part about that time was if you had any skills, right? You didn't have to have technical skills, you could have skills in writing, in design, in art, there was a need for content. And so few people knew how to create decent, good, exciting content that if you were willing to learn the technology part of it, which was still very raw, you could create opportunities for yourself. And I think, you know, for many of my peers who did not have deep computer science backgrounds, it was a great way for us to get involved in a new technology because we were able to help develop it probably along more human centered lines than if we just let it be a bunch of really hardcore developers writing language.
Jonathan Castillo:
You had mentioned that you know, you had worked for a startup company earlier, right? And it was bought out by a larger tech company, but how exactly did you come about, you know, to work at the Postal Service?
Bob Dixon:
So just it's your, it's your college connections. So I was working at the Pittsburgh Super Computing center in, in Pittsburgh. And two friends of mine who were in Washington at the time, had decided they wanted to strike out on their own, and they needed someone who could actually make web pages. They were the really hardcore computer science guys. They could write any sort of application you wanted, but for good or for bad, neither one of 'em could make a webpage with a halfway decent graphic in it. And so they needed someone who had those skills. So I came out here to join them and you know, it was three of us in a little one room office for the first year cranking out, you know, the first websites that were around DC at the time.
Karla Kirby:
So around that same time, I guess Silicon Valley was up and coming. So what drew you to the Postal Service as opposed to heading out west?
Bob Dixon:
So, I had thought about going out west and I had started making a life here in DC and as I said, the Postal Service once I got started was really intriguing in that there were all of these great technology things going on here at that time, which weren't happening everywhere. You know, at the time I joined the Postal Service, we were bringing Click N Ship online. We were bringing the postal store online, we were experimenting with different types of mailing applications. You didn't see things of that size and scale happening in a lot of places. You had what was going on in Silicon Valley, but you don't have, at the time, you didn't have any company in Silicon Valley serving, you know, 160 million households. And there's something to be said for jumping in someplace, which has got everyone to support. It is a, it is a little bit of an ego trip to work on something where, you know, the whole country is your customer.
Jonathan Castillo:
What did your friends say when you told them, Hey, I'm gonna go work for the Postal Service instead of, you know, going out to Seattle
Bob Dixon:
I mean, it was a little bit of like, what are you doing? Right? But it was also when I started telling them about the things that I was doing, it was, it was awakening for them as well and like, Hey, we didn't know that the Postal Service did all of those things. I think at that time people had a vision of the Postal Service. It's a bunch of people in a back room stuffing, you know, mail in, in cubby holes, right? And when you explain that that's not how things actually work, it was really eye-opening to them, especially when we talked about the size and the scale of the technology platforms that are used to make everything happen.
Karla Kirby:
So with the technology or the cusp of technology that you saw coming into the Postal Service, you were, I guess, able to see also the challenges as we were transitioning to the 21st century. What would you say, from your vantage point, are the biggest challenges we face as such a large organization embracing technology?
Bob Dixon:
You know, I think the Postal Service has a lot of institutional knowledge, right? We have, you know, almost 250 years of history in the way we've always done things. I think at times we get in our own way because we have that history. We look at things as, we've always done it this way. Well, we can modernize and we can do the same thing just electronically. I think we struggle sometimes to think differently about how we can solve problems. You know, I think we have great opportunities for folks who are starting to do that and who are really thinking differently about solving our business challenges and using technology to do it, which is, for me, really exciting to revision how you solve something.
Jonathan Castillo:
And you mentioned, you know, the Postal Service has had we pulled off several of these impressive feats with technology already despite you know, some of those challenges that you mentioned a little bit earlier. But I think that you know, the magic really kind of happens behind the scenes with our delivery network. And you know, you talk about Informed delivery, which is a whole other story. You know, 65 million people have signed up for it, you know, talk about making an impact. But with Informed Delivery, what was it like to be a part of that, you know, that launch,
Bob Dixon:
It was really scary. So for the first time, we were taking information about what's in people's mail, using the images of it that we already use for processing, and then giving it to them to show them, right? That's really personal stuff, right? You don't want your neighbor seeing your mail, or at least I don't want my neighbors seeing my mail. And we spent a lot of time securing the system, making sure that we had done everything we could so that we weren't sending something to the wrong person. Even with all the work that we did, it was still nerve wracking because it is such personal information. I think we did a really good job with that. So that part I feel really good about, and that we've managed that much data without having an issue with it being seen by the wrong person. Now, if I were to be honest, sometimes it does still keep me awake at night, and I worry about those things, but that's why we spend so much time making sure that it is secure.
Karla Kirby:
So is that why you would say the mail industry opposed Informed Delivery?
Bob Dixon:
I think part of it was the security, and part of it really was discomfort with bringing digital to physical, right? Because we were taking the physical, the images of the physical mail, which is their, their livelihood, their lifeblood, right? That's what they make their livings doing. And we're saying, Hey, all this stuff that we've, that we've argued against for years, in digital marketing, and all those things we've said are bad, we're now saying, well, it's not so bad, let's add it to mail. And so there was a real level of discomfort in the change that we were trying to bring to the mailing industry, and not everyone was willing to, to go along with us, at least to start. And so it really took a lot of convincing and a lot of demonstration of the value that we could bring to physical mail. And it, it did take a couple of years for the industry to come along with us. And I think you know, one of the things I'm most proud of is they really embrace it now and that it is part of their mailing process to use Informed Delivery.
Karla Kirby:
So you said you're, you're proud of this effort and I myself am signed up for Informed Delivery. So what do you think, or at what point would you say informed Delivery was deemed a success?
Bob Dixon:
Well, that's a hard one 'cause I'm not sure I'm gonna say it's there yet. I think if you say it's a success, you stop trying. So I think it's on its way. I think it's an important part of our product offerings for mailing and shipping. I think that it serves our customers extremely well. You know, maybe I'll say it's a success when everyone has it. So I've still got another 60 million people to go roughly for it to be, you know, everyone. You know, I don't know if I, again, if I say it's a success, maybe I, we stop trying to improve it. So I'll say it's on its way to success.
Jonathan Castillo:
I think that's fair enough. So you mentioned, you know, we're, we're not at success or we're not at perfection yet. We're always striving to get to perfection, right? But what has led us to achieve at least what we've, what we've been able to achieve so far, would you say?
Bob Dixon:
So a couple of things I think have led us to where we are. One I'm extremely gratified that the organization has continued to support informed delivery for this long. I mean, we launched the first prototype of Informed Delivery back in 2014, really did production launch in 2017. That's an incredibly long time for the Postal Service as an organization to continue to invest the way that we have in making Informed Delivery you know, a, a staple for so many of our customers. And so I'm, you know, extremely gratified that the organization sees value in it as well as the mailing industry. I think the other thing that, that we've done is, is we've continued to incrementally add features and capabilities to the program. One of the things that we, we started Informed Delivery with was, was a reminder that people change social media platforms every six months. If we stay static, we're never gonna retain our users. And so every year we have a catalog of things we look to do to continue to make the service better, to continue to offer new things or a better experience so that we retain the users we have and continue to gain more. I think that's how we're getting there.
Jonathan Castillo:
And I can tell you I know quite a few of my friends, they, they just like to see what's coming in the mail that day. Was that anticipated?
Bob Dixon:
That that was our original use case was, you know, to give people a preview of what they need to deal with that day, help them understand what's important in the mailbox, what should they be prioritizing? How should they be responding to things? Even if, for example, they're on travel or they're, they're away from home, let them still stay in touch. That's what we really thought our primary use case was gonna be. But then we saw all of these others with we've actually seen a number of use cases where we have families who one of the adult partners may in the military and maybe stationed overseas or stationed away from home. We've had feedback from our customers that when both parties have access to informed delivery, it helps them manage the household because they can both see what's happening. It gives them a baseline for, okay, these are the things that we need to take care of jointly, or we need to divide up. That was, again, also really sort of satisfying that we were helping people live their lives a little bit more easily.
Jonathan Castillo:
So Bob, you know, up until this point, Informed Delivery has been able to achieve a good amount of success. Were there any other products or services that kind of were spawned from Informed Delivery that, that, that have kind of surprised you or, or, or gotten to that level?
Bob Dixon:
Sure. I think there's a couple of things. So, you know, first we started informed Delivery with mail, and it was the visibility into the mail, and then it was the you know, what we call the ride along campaigns, the marketing material that goes with the mail. But, you know, then we added proactive visibility in the packages. You know, one of the things that's proven really popular is now we will show you all the packages that are coming to your home. So no more keying in tracking numbers, no more clicking the link from your third party, et cetera, et cetera. You know, it's down at the bottom of your informed delivery every day. So if you've got a package coming we will show you as soon as we have it in our network, and it's within three days of delivery.
There's also, for our package shippers, they also have the ability to include marketing material that we show right next to the tracking number for those packages. I think that's been really exciting, especially for our younger customers who or good or for bad, maybe more engaged with their packages than they are with their mail. So that's, that's been exciting. And then coming soon, we will have a dedicated mobile app for Informed Delivery. So if you're not fond of email, you'll be able to download an app for your, your iOS or your Android device. And every morning the app will update with whatever's coming to you and, you know, for both your mail and packages, and it'll have all the same functionality, but conveniently in that mobile app.
Jonathan Castillo:
You did mention ride-along images. Now you and I and Karla, we know what ride-along images are for our audience listening, if they're not aware of what that is in, in the informed delivery service, what is a ride-along?
Bob Dixon:
So, so a ride-along image is a, is a little full color graphic that is supplied to us by the sender of the mail that appears next to the image of the mail itself. It's clickable. So if the mail piece is providing an offer, it gives the consumer an opportunity to take advantage of it. Click the, click the full color image, go right to that webpage. We'll actually, even if you include it, we'll actually dial the phone for you. So you can go right there and take advantage of whatever it is that mailpiece is offering you without having to sit down, bring the mailpiece to your PC or your phone, and type in the URL. You can go right there. It's an, it's again, just a convenience for those consumers, and it also gives our, our mailers, you know, a faster channel to get response.
Jonathan Castillo:
I was gonna say, that sounds like a great marketing tool for any business.
Bob Dixon:
We have, so far, I just looked at the stats the other day. I think we've done since the launch of informed delivery over 700,000 what we call a, a mailing campaign. So 700,000 different mailings have used the ride along image feature to be able to take advantage of giving consumers that faster response channel.
Karla Kirby:
So as you mentioned at the beginning, you've moved on from just handling Informed Delivery and now the Senior Director for Innovation and, and those things. We understand that there is a new digital product on the way. Can you tell us about that?
Bob Dixon:
Sure, absolutely. So, you know, there are good trends and there are bad trends. Unfortunately, one of the bad trends is that we're seeing thefts of keys from mail carriers. We're seeing break-ins to collection boxes. So we're, we're working on technologies to better secure our collection boxes and really reduce the appeal of the keys that our carriers use as targets for theft. We can't talk a lot about those in a, in a, in a public forum, but it's really exciting that we're gonna have the opportunity to better protect our mail and more importantly, better protect our carriers who are, who are delivering the mail.
Jonathan Castillo:
It sounds like you're really kind of tackling this new challenge with a totally different set of engineers. I mean, for at least the, the things that you guys need to work on. Now, how do you adjust? I mean, traditionally working from on one side of house like that, how do you to take on a problem like this?
Bob Dixon:
So, so it is, so, you know, I've been very used to working in the, I'll say the software side of the house and the, and the it side of the house. And now it is the, the physical engineering side of the house. I do a lot of shut up and listen because, you know, it is, it is a new space for me. And so candidly, what I've always found is most important, let the folks who know more about this tell you about it before you go open your mouth and make some silly decision without full information. So I've been doing it now since, I don't know, for about nine months. So it has been drinking from all the fire hoses, I think to learn what's going on. But it is also, again, another really exciting opportunity for us to make a difference not only for our, our external customers, but also for our, for our employees. If we can do things to make delivering the mail safer by, by reducing the value of those keys, you know, what more could you want to do for the organization you support?
Jonathan Castillo:
It was something that was brought up at NPF this year, the National Postal Forum. Can you talk a little bit about the high security electronic locks?
Bob Dixon:
So the high security electronic locks are, are sort of the, the second part of the, of the new keys we're developing. The high security electronic locks are going to be tested this year. In fact, we'll hopefully start deployment I don't know, in about two months from now. And those will give us not only better security for our mail receptacles, all kinds of mail receptacles, but also give us better visibility into what's happening. So we'll have digital data about when boxes are tapped, we'll know where the keys are we'll have audit trails of really everything that goes on. So that visibility, in addition to the security features that those technology bring to bear, really let us, you know, leap forward in the protections that we're providing for our carriers and for the mail.
Karla Kirby:
So when should customers look to see this new digital secure lock?
Bob Dixon:
So if we do our job right, they'll never know. There'll be no impact to delivering the mail. They'll be either for our customers or for our carriers. So if we've done everything we've set out to do, no one will ever know the difference, except there'll be less mail theft.
Jonathan Castillo:
Sounds like a good thing.
Karla Kirby:
So one of the things of course, that we ask most of our executives that come and visit us is just about their trajectory and experience with the Postal Service. You know, by your own account, you've been here a little while and you've had some trajectory into management and senior leadership. What would you say are the top three things that maybe have attributed to your success here at the Postal Service?
Bob Dixon:
I think, you know, first and foremost at least for me, if you had asked me when I started the Postal Service, is this where I thought I would end up the, the answer would've absolutely been no. Right? I did not see myself branching out into some of the things that I've, that I've done as part of my career. And I think what was most important to me was to one be adaptable. You know, a static world is a boring world, so adapt to what changes are happening. I think two is be open to the unexpected opportunities. Not everything seems like it's going to be in the direction you want your career to go. I think you sometimes have to be open to taking those, those side journeys because they can turn into something unexpected. They can turn into something positive, they can turn into, you know, maybe a path that is more appealing than the one you were on.
And I think finally three, and this may be actually number one, is listen to the people around you. There are tremendously smart people here at the Postal Service. I think, you know, for folks who work in government, we sometimes get a bad rap. You know, you work for the government, you must not be at the top of your field, blah, blah, blah, blah. All those sorts of things. In working for the Postal Service, I have never found anything to be less true than thinking that there are not smart people here. There are tremendously smart people here. There are tremendously talented people here, and they're all worthy of being listened to for the experience they can give you, for the guidance they can give you for just the, the thought process that may be different from your own. You know, we have 650,000 people. That's a lot of people to draw on for their experience. Use it. I mean, shame on you if you don't use that opportunity to talk to as many of those people as you can.
Jonathan Castillo:
Well, Bob, thank you so much for joining us here on the podcast today. It has been great hearing about all your, all the innovative work you're doing for the Postal Service and your journey you know, through the Postal Service as well. So thank you for everything that you do. Keep up the amazing work. Looking forward to having you back.
Bob Dixon:
Oh, thank you for having me.
Karla Kirby:
Absolutely. Now it's time for my favorite segment. Did you know where we talk about interesting and unusual pieces of Postal Service history? What are we talking about this time, Jonathan?
Jonathan Castillo:
Thanks Karla. I've got a fun Did You Know for you about a landmark moment in postal history, the first piece of parcel post ever received in the United States? Now, you might remember from a recent episode when we talked about how the Postal Service kicked off domestic parcel post in 1913, and we mentioned that the first package was delivered to President-elect, Woodrow Wilson's home in New Jersey. But here's the twist. Did you know that this wasn't actually the first parcel post package sent to a US destination?
Karla Kirby:
So, okay, Jonathan, what was the first?
Jonathan Castillo:
Believe it or not, the very first parcel post delivered to the United States came from outside the country way back in 1887. Any guesses where it came from?
Karla Kirby:
I'm trying to think of who would be most likely to send a package to the US in 1887? Could it have been someone from the UK?
Jonathan Castillo:
Are you locking that in? Is that your final answer?
Karla Kirby:
I'm gonna go with that UK double down.
Jonathan Castillo:
Well, you'd only be half right there. The correct answer is actually Jamaica. And at the time, Jamaica was still a colony of the United Kingdom. In November of 1887, the postmaster general in Kingston sent a package to the White House addressed to President Grover Cleveland's wife, Francis Folsom Cleveland. Inside the package was a fan crafted from native woods, ferns and flowers from the island, a gift from the women's Self-Help Society of Jamaica. The hope was to encourage parcel post exchange between the two countries. Over the next 25 years, thousands of parcels were sent between the US and other countries around the world. But it wasn't until Woodrow Wilson's delivery in 1913 that this service became available to Americans looking to send packages to each other.
Karla Kirby:
Well, that's strange. You could mail a package to someone overseas before you could send one to a neighbor. Interesting. My fact is also related to International mail. Jonathan, did you know the exchange of mail between countries around the world is governed by treaties first created in the 1860s and 1870s.
Jonathan Castillo:
So a decade or so before that first package arrived from Jamaica?
Karla Kirby:
Yep. Looks like it was a slow start. International Postal Post may have started in the US with the 1887 Jamaica delivery, but it took 97 more years for the United States to join what's known as the Universal Postal Union Postal Parcels Agreement. Up until then, America operated through individual bilateral agreements with dozens of different countries. Unfortunately, that put our Postal Service at a competitive disadvantage on the world stage. Finally, in 1984, we joined the Universal Postal Union Postal Parcels Agreement, which allowed the US to harmonize with the rest of the world. And that wraps up this segment of Did You Know. So Jonathan, I think that was a great segment. I think what Bob is doing is definitely aligned with Delivering for America, improving service delivery to our 167 million households. What do you think?
Jonathan Castillo
Yeah, it was just amazing to listen to Bob share his insights on the different technological innovations that are happening at the Postal Service. You know, the, the, the different things that we're doing to modernize the Postal Service. I particularly loved hearing about his, you know, commitment to USPS, especially when, you know, in the nineties a lot of the members of his field you know, that they were heading off to Silicon Valley you know, where, where that movement was happening. And I think it just shows, you know, his dedication to not only driving innovation within the organization, but, you know, modernizing the Postal Service. So yeah. Thanks again to Bob.
Karla Kirby:
I agree. And that's all for this episode of Mailin’ It. Don't forget to subscribe to mailing it wherever you get your podcasts. To make sure you don't miss the next episode and follow along on Instagram @USPostal Service, X @usps, and on Facebook.