“USPS Still Rides Strong” in Stores Magazine
05/01/2012
By M.V. Greene
N?imble is hardly the first word most people would think of when describing the U.S. Postal Service. Mail is delivered, to be sure, but post office closings, rising postage rates and staggering debt are not to be ignored. Postmaster General/CEO Patrick R. Donahoe said as much in a March 2012 appearance before a congressional committee, saying the USPS “business model is broken.”
Yet for all its woes, the postal service knows shipping, and sporting goods retailer Olympia Sports is convinced of its value to outbound shipping operations.
Based in Westbrook, Maine, Olympia has more than 200 stores throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The chain's Get It inventory locator program leverages the USPS to deliver products to customers quickly and easily, says Paul Fitzpatrick, Olympia director of operations and distribution. Since Get It was instituted in 2006, it has meant “a few percentage points” to bottom line revenue, he says.
http://www.stores.org/STORES%20Magazine%20May%202012/usps-still-rides-strong
