USPS Vice President Marketing, Sheila Holman
Built for the Holidays
The holiday season is when our public service mission is most visible and most scrutinized as the nation depends on the Postal Service to deliver the holidays. Last holiday season, the Postal Service delivered nearly 12 billion packages and mailpieces[1]. Our strong operational performance during this hectic period will set the tone for our customers’ trust and expectations for the next year.
Implementation of our Delivering for America (DFA) plan sets a high bar on those expectations. With thoughtful investments in our people and infrastructure, DFA has guided us through two very successful peak seasons, and we enter our current peak enthusiastic about our ability to distinguish the Postal Service as the reliable, affordable, and trusted shipper of choice for the holiday season. As we move into the more dynamic phases of our transformation, we will become even more competitive, efficient, and higher performing.
Our new holiday marketing campaign — Built for the Holidays — celebrates our transformation through the lens of an animated world created out of our product boxes and packaging to signal, literally and figuratively, that we are building a Postal Service with excellent capacity and capability to easily handle the surge in holiday volumes.
My team and I are incredibly proud of this campaign and truly appreciate the dedication of everyone involved to bring this world to life. It has the potential to become a cornerstone of our holiday identity for years to come — it’s that special.
This holiday campaign tells many stories, but here, I’d like to focus on one: how, through innovations like USPS Ground AdvantageTM, we are bringing more affordable and reliable shipping to every business across America, regardless of their size or reach.
By law, we are to be a self-sustaining organization, and we are proud to meet our public service mission. But, because we need to rely on the sale of postage, we must compete hard to support our unique role in serving every American community. DFA has given us the focus and — with the wholesale transformation of our facilities, network, and transportation systems — the means to create some amazing new products that heighten the value of our network.
This holiday season is the first for our new USPS Ground Advantage™ product. This simple, reliable ground shipping option gives American businesses an affordable and secure way to send most packages within the continental United States with a 2- to 5-day service standard.[2] Ground Advantage can even manage customer returns and provide free pick-up[3]. This is a real game changer for smaller and micro businesses, especially when integrated with proven business solutions like Click-N-Ship®. With the USPS Connect™ suite of products, Priority Mail® and Priority Mail Express® services, American businesses and consumers have a comprehensive set of options that can meet critical shipping needs during the holidays.
We have always valued the trust our customers place in us, and we strive daily to reward that trust by building a service that can meet and exceed their expectations, especially during the stress of the holiday season. There’s more work ahead, but as we enter our third peak season under DFA, we know we are on the right track to building the Postal Service our customers can turn to any day of the year.
Wishing you and yours a very happy holiday.
Sheila Holman
Vice President, Marketing
[1] The Postal Service accepted 11.7 billion mailpieces and packages between Nov. 26-Dec. 30, 2023
[2] For mailable items up to 70 lbs. Expected delivery in 2–5 business days. Packages going to certain places (including Alaska, Hawaii, and offshore destinations), or containing hazardous materials or live animals may receive slower service.
[3] Packages typically picked up at the time your carrier delivers mail. For details on availability, visit usps.com/pickup. Pickup on Demand® may be available for an added fee.