Postal Service Eyes ‘Internet of Postal Things’

The U.S. Postal Service is launching a big data effort dubbed the “Internet of Postal Things” that officials stress will require expertise in data strategy and analytics as well as the workings of the emerging Internet of Things.

Observers note that the effort is timely since the Postal Service likely collects more data than similar organizations around the world.

Indeed, according to a recent industry solicitation, the post office “has always been a major creator of large datasets – from mail origin/destination information to quality of service data, and letter mail scans. The application of sensors and other data collection technologies to the various components of the postal infrastructure (vehicles, mailboxes, machines, letter carriers, etc.), combined with powerful software and analytical tools, could help the Postal Service bring data management to the next level.”

The initiative aims to “create new rich data sources that could help the Postal Service improve operational performance, customer service, create new products and services and support more efficient decision-making processes.”

Moreover, an “Internet of Postal Things” could also have a “positive spillover effect on other adjacent non-postal sectors, as the information collected by and for the Postal Service could be useful to others,” the solicitation added.

The post office is already using network sensors, the backbone of the Internet of Things, for applications like predictive vehicle fleet maintenance. The technology is also being tested in connection with other postal operations like “handheld terminals as a source of consumer data, or the use of sensors on postal trucks to collect environmental data that could benefit local governments,” the solicitation noted.

The Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General appears to be in a hurry to get the Internet of Postal Things off the ground. Industry technical and price proposals were due on July 3, and the Postal Service said it expects to award a research contract before July 30. The relatively small $100,000 contract – by federal government standards – would fund studies designed to show how the Internet of Things can be applied to postal operations.

The contract also will attempt to flesh out a “conceptual design of how new sensor and other data collection technologies could increase the ability of Postal Service infrastructure to create value to its business, customers and stakeholders through data,” the solicitation states.

The initial product of the research contract will be a white paper that presumably will provide a framework for the postal network. According to the procurement schedule, the study should be completed by the end of 2014.

Postal officials also acknowledged privacy concerns related to the collection and use of consumer data. Hence, the Internet of Postal Things study will examine how privacy and transparency policies can be integrated into the “design of data strategies.”

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