With An Eye On Expansion, National Postal Museum Seeks Direct Marketers' Support
Friday, 21 July 2006
For over two centuries, the safe delivery of mail has played an essential role in America's growth, helping to knit together a diverse population and allowing for the free flow of communication and commerce over long distances. Even today when people are able to communicate globally in a fraction of a second via the Web, the mail continues to drive communication and commerce for households, businesses, and nonprofit organizations.
The National Postal Museum is a powerful educational and discovery resource on everything to do with this powerful conduit. And now it is seeking the input and support of the direct marketing community, which is, even in the Digital Age, a major constituency of the nation's postal system.
Allen R. Kane, director of the museum, recently met with the members of the Direct Marketing Association's Board of Directors to discuss the museum's past, present, and future.
A History Lesson
In Colonial times, communicating over long distances was a difficult and time-consuming task. Colonists had to depend upon the ever-struggling British postal systems, as well as friends, merchants, and other travelers, to deliver their letters to recipients in other colonies.
At the onset of the Revolutionary War, conveying intelligence and written communiqués between Congress and the armies was essential to the cause of indepndence. So, in July of 1775, the Second Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin as their first Postmaster General. Thus, the Post Office Department, the predecessor of today's US Postal Service, was born.
Today's Postal Service has come to us in an unbroken line from the system Franklin planned and placed in operation - continuing to serve the changing needs of the American people.
The USPS continues to play an essential role in our daily lives today. With ever-evolving modern technology, the mail connects correspondents from coast to coast as well as around the globe. Last year alone, the USPS delivered 680 million pieces of mail to 293 million Americans at 143 million addresses each business day.
The National Postal Museum
The National Postal Museum in Washington, DC was created by an agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and the US Postal Service in 1990, and opened its doors to visitors in 1993. Since that time, through galleries and online exhibits, the museum has played a special role in telling the story of the nation's Post Office, its customers, and suppliers, to the American public.
Today the museum welcomes about 550,000 walk-in visitors a year. Housed in the historic City Post Office Building next to Penn Station, the museum occupies 75,000 square feet of the building with 23,000 square feet devoted to exhibition space, a 6,000-square-foot research library, as well as a stamp store and museum shop.
Kane is understandably proud of the museum's substantial collections on the history of America's mail system, including its huge archives of philately. The museum contains nearly six million items, including postage stamps, letters, postcards, uniforms, and mail planes. Kane, a 30-year veteran of the Postal Service, exudes a genuine love for all things mail-related. "The Postal Service is in my blood," Kane said the day he took the post.
The Postal Museum's Future Plans
Kane is now spearheading an ambitious project of renewal and innovation for the museum's future. With the renovation of the gallery space, the museum is creating seven new exhibits.
In planning the new exhibits, Kane gathered together some 60 people from all walks of life, including academics, USPS senior management and retirees, industry experts, archivists, and museum professionals, to brainstorm and come up with ideas for exhibits that would provide the public with all they need to know about the Postal Service, its customers, and suppliers.
The seven planned exhibits will highlight the use and operations of the postal system. They are:
· The Postal Network Gallery: Consisting of three exhibits: Connecting a Nation, Portrait of the Postal Worker, and System at Work, this gallery explores the technological innovations and evolving customer needs that are driving forces in how the mail is delivered.
· Mail Means Business: Of particular interest to direct marketers, this gallery also contains three exhibits: The Business of Mail, Mail Call, and Community and the Post, demonstrating how the postal channel is a conduit for businesses to increase their revenue, their customer base, and their products, along with the US economy. Business of Mail illustrates the critical presence of the postal channel in the national and global economies. This channel is a conduit for businesses to increase their revenue, customer base, and products, along with the US economy. “The postal network is a huge, huge channel that moves many messages,” said Kane in a recent interview.
· Future of the Mail: Composed of a single exhibit, this gallery explores the current and future challenges facing the mail and the postal system.
The Enduring Power of Mail
But what about the huge expansion of online resources on the Internet and e-mail? Will these have a negative effect on the mail’s usefulness?
Not really, according to Kane in a recent interview with DMA’s Susan Taplinger. He explained that the mail is a complimentary channel, and no matter what the online vehicle may be, in the end, the product has to be shipped and delivered.
But there’s one other, less tangible, yet no less powerful element to consider. It’s what the Postal Service has dubbed a “mail moment.” Even with today’s hectic pace, spending time opening and reading the daily mail remains important for many Americans. “When you go home, you open your mailbox,” he said.