The U.S. Postal Service is opening up new service centers in local retail outlets, offering shipping services and passport renewals without the traditional long post office lines.
New U.S. Postal Service shipping centers erected in local retail stores could make long post office lines a thing of the past.
USPS is now selling stamps, shipping packages and renewing passports in Temecula office supply and grocery stores, giving locals hundreds of new options to choose from for postal services.
“We’re teaming up with many new stores in Temecula and the surrounding area so customers can do postal business at places where they already shop,” Temecula Postmaster Susan Houpy said in an email Tuesday.
The federal post office has been struggling to stay relevant and avoid bleeding money in recent years as internet business and competition from giant shipping conglomerates threatened to overturn a once sleepy market.
The decision to offer services in new locations, including pharmacies and established retailers, came in response to “changing customer needs and a business plan that calls for expanding access to Postal Service products,” USPS spokesperson Eva Jackson wrote.
Post offices are also recieving a high-tech tune-up with the installation of Automated Postal Center kiosks, which allow customers to interact with a computer rather than wait in line at the service counter.
The push to open up service centers in new locations has been fairly successful so far, and 35 percent of USPS revenue is now collected at those locations, Jackson said.
USPS must operate solely on money it makes selling postage and providing other services and can’t use any tax money, she said.
“We’re creating easier, more convenient access to products and services when and where our customers want them,” Houpy said. “We’re everywhere so you can be anywhere.”
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