Desperate Postal Service tries to find its
"cool" factor
By Elvina Nawaguna
WASHINGTON | Wed Feb 20, 2013 5:03pm EST
(Reuters) - The U.S. Postal Service, desperate and almost
broke, is looking to the wallets of younger Americans for some relief.
The federal government's mail transport and delivery
agency this week said it will roll out a line of apparel and accessories it
plans to sell in department and specialty stores.
The "Rain Heat & Snow" brand of clothing,
named after the Postal Service's motto trumpeting its carriers' determination
to overcome whatever Mother Nature can throw at them, would put USPS in the
"cutting edge of functional fashion," it said.
"The idea is to blend in with the younger audiences
as well as the more educated consumer," said Roy Betts, a spokesman for
the Postal Service.
The fashion line is not the cash-strapped Postal
Service's first attempt to woo younger shoppers. In 2011, the agency waived a
rule that required people of note featured on stamps to be dead at least five
years.
The Postal Service has invited the public to submit
suggestions of celebrities to be honored, and was reportedly flooded with
requests for a Lady Gaga stamp, among other pop culture figures. But that plan
quietly disappeared and did not start last year as the Postal Service said it
would.
Martin Saunders, the Postal Service spokesman authorized
to speak on the stamp program, declined to say why the program had stalled. The
agency, he said, is still evaluating the living legends stamp program.
Now, with the Postal Service losing roughly $25 million a
day as more Americans opt for email and the Internet for communication, it is
again focusing on the younger population to bring in more revenue.
It comes as the agency taps its limited powers to cut
costs and seek new revenue, as it desperately awaits legislation to overhaul
its structure.
Betts said the mail agency wants to capture the interest
of young people aged 18 to 44, who are using its services less and less,
especially as they pay more bills online.
THE CLOCK IS TICKING
Richard Geddes, a professor at Cornell University's
Department of Policy Analysis and Management, said, USPS not only needs to find
new sources of revenue, but also capture the attention of young people if it's
to survive.
"There is a big divide in the use of the mail which
works against the Postal Service. Young people are much more comfortable doing
everything online," said Geddes, who has done research on the Postal
Service.
In a 2011 study from the Postal Service, the agency said
age played a significant role in how people use its services.
Regardless of income, younger people sent and received
less postal mail, and the Internet has widened that gap. Homes with a head of
the household under age 34 sent 0.7 pieces of mail a week, compared with two
pieces for those above 55.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has said the Postal
Service would like to find more innovative ways to make money and stay
relevant, but current laws don't give them the flexibility to do so.
Some say the agency is stuck with an archaic business
model that is hindering its ability to survive in the 21st Century.
While testifying before lawmakers last week, Donahoe said
the Postal Service could require a taxpayer bailout of more than $47 billion by
2017 if Congress doesn't pass reforms that allow it to run more of its own
affairs and change its business model.
It also wants relief from massive payments it is required
to make into a fund for its future retirees' health benefits. The mail carrier
lost about $16 billion last year and expects to run out of money by October if
legislation isn't passed soon.
Because of its dire financial situation, Geddes said,
lawmakers need to free the Postal Service to operate more like a commercial
business, with the leeway to try out innovative new ways to create revenue and
stay relevant.
"And if that's putting famous people on stamps and
getting more people interested in the Postal Service, I applaud that, Geddes
said. Trial and error is the heart of innovation."
(Reporting by Elvina Nawaguna; Editing by Karey Wutkowski
and Todd Eastham)
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