The Postal Service is helping employees get ready for the nationwide launch of USPS Connect, beginning Feb. 22.
USPS Connect, the organization’s new approach to commercial package delivery, features a wider range of offerings, new pricing and a reconfigured network designed to increase the number of next-day deliveries for business customers.
The USPS Connect offerings include USPS Connect Local, USPS Connect Regional, USPS Connect National and USPS Connect Returns.
USPS Connect Local provides businesses of all sizes with local-to-local same-day and next-day mail and package delivery at affordable rates.
It provides smaller businesses access to big business rates, and it includes a no-minimum Parcel Select package option and USPS Connect Local Mail option for companies seeking affordable flat-rate delivery of First-Class Mail flats within a local area.
Last year, the Postal Service began testing USPS Connect Local in Texas as part of Delivering for America, the organization’s 10-year plan to achieve financial sustainability.
USPS Connect Local will roll out to an additional sites in 46 districts by Oct. 1, bringing the total to 3,400 sites nationwide, including the original Texas sites. The first districts added will be New York 1 and New York 2 during the week of Feb. 22.
To prepare for the Connect Local rollout, which will add new states each week, USPS has created a downloadable postmaster kit. The organization will also offer operational briefings for employees throughout the rollout.
“We did the operational briefings by groups and had subject matter experts assigned to us. We briefed the subject matter experts, and they cascaded the briefings into their respective offices,” said Post Office Operations Director Leslie Johnson-Frick. “There were some lessons learned when we rolled out in Texas. Now we are ready to take it national.”
The USPS Connect Regional, USPS Connect National and USPS Connect Returns solutions are available now.
Before the Feb. 22 launch, the Postal Service will introduce a USPS Connect LiteBlue page that will have additional information for employees, including a sampling of advertisements that are starting to appear.
In addition, employees can listen to the Feb. 8 episode of the “Mailin’ It!” podcast, which was devoted to USPS Connect.