USPS goes green

More and more companies are going green and becoming aware of the consumers desires to lower their carbon footprint and reduce their global impact. If you live in the United States then you’ll have seen changes in the USPS services over recent months. USPS is the primary postal delivery for many residents of the US and as such have a severe impact on the environment with the products and services they offer, and the great news is they are rising to the occasion and going green! 

Products
The USPS was the first mailing company to achieve the Cradle to Cradle certification for packaging, which carefully considers energy used during manufacturing process and ensures the end product can be recycled. Many of the shipping products they provide are also made from recyclable materials including envelopes, boxes, post cards, stamps and packing materials. The inks used are water based inks and the adhesives used on the stamps are biodegradable. Having used their priority shipping boxes for the last 2-3 years I will say that their boxes have also gotten thinner, yet are no less sturdy. Obviously they’ve undergone some eco-packaging redesign also!

Energy usage
The USPS uses refined bio-based oil, alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas, hydrogen, or ethanol gas, and re-tread tires on our fleet of Postal vehicles.Considering the USPS has the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the nation with 43,000 of them alternative fuel capable. In addition to their vehicle deliveries one third of deliveries are made on foot! They are also upgrading buildings to reduce energy use and plan to reduce overall energy consumption 30% by 2015.

Online services
Not only can you order stamps, and shipping supplies online to be delivered to your door (in my experience allow 3 – 10 days delivery time) but you can ship items too through their online “click-n-ship” service. We use this regularly as we have a small home business and the click-n-ship is a fast and easy way to ship parcels. Not only do they deliver the shipping boxes, but they pick them up too! We never have to leave the house to go to the post office!

Shipping
One point I hadn’t really considered before until I saw it on the USPS website

When you order a product on online, choose the Postal Service to
deliver it. We are already coming to your house 6 days a week so it’s
not an extra trip for us. Make the switch-have your packages delivered
by the Postal Service.

Makes total sense! Why waste energy for another company to ship a product to your home when the USPS will be coming anyway! Save those carbon emissions!

Try the USPS services and products, the online click-n-ship is not only green but also a good economic option too as it saves the consumer money versus traveling to the post office to mail parcels. Check out their services online and see what changes you can make today!

dalgal | My Bio & Articles