Your Postman Wants To Deliver More Than Mail: What’s Next For The USPS?

The postman may be delivering your groceries soon. Yahoo Finance reports that the USPS is hoping to get approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission to deliver fresh groceries and prepackaged items to private residences across the U.S. If approved, the program could start as early as the end of October.

Yahoo reports that the proposal states that retailers would drop off the groceries at various post office locations and the USPS would make grocery deliveries between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. The exact details are still unclear, but some postal workers in San Francisco already have some experience with delivering groceries because they are currently working with a similar delivery program, Amazon Fresh. The Amazon program is currently undergoing a 60-day trial period with the USPS and may expand to other cities in the future.

The neighborhood’s favorite time of day is when these visitors roll in. pic.twitter.com/nTxlLKc8wu

— U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) September 20, 2014

How thrilled people would people be to get groceries at 3 a.m. and how will postal delivery workers keep fresh foods cold in the event that the recipient is sound asleep or not at home when the packages at their homes? Those questions have yet to be answered, but more information should be forthcoming if the proposal is approved.

The possibility of the U.S. Postal Service running a grocery delivery service wouldn’t only benefit those who want to skip the supermarket lines, it would also bring in some much-needed revenue for the USPS, an agency that is struggling financially. Yahoo reports that the proposal would bring in as much as an extra $10 million a year. That would certainly be a big help, but a far cry from making the agency solvent, considering it lost $5 billion in fiscal year 2014.

The postal service is really branching out in an effort to stay afloat financially. Aside from the grocery delivery proposal, the USPS is now delivering Amazon packages on Sundays after partnering with the online retailer last November. In addition, NBC News reported last November that postal centers would be opening in 82 Staples locations. The year-long pilot program was launched in Staples stores in several states, including California, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

[Image: ThreeDonia.com]