Understanding Postal

By Kathy J. Siviter

Vogel also said that the feedback the USPS received, particularly that its first few digital initiatives must be successful, points to a need to change the agency's culture. Noting that 60 percent of digital activities fail — e.g., some apps are more popular than others, some apps are given away free because of their lack of commercial value — Vogel said that digital represents somewhat of a "culture conflict" at USPS. He said the Postal Service tends to engage in big activities, "but digital is about doing hundreds of little things all at the same time and allowing a lot of them to fail." Vogel added that the USPS would use a lean development process to try a lot of things, let go of the ones that don't resonate and keep a constant churn of ideas, expecting that some will fail.