The Postal Service, faced with the continuing decline of first class mail that has traditionally propped it up, must look to new sources of revenue, including opportunities presented by the advent of 3D printing technology, as the USPS inspector general explores in a new white paper.
In “If It Prints, It Ships: 3D Printing and the Postal Service,” the IG considers ways that 3D printing of objects could lead to an increase in package delivery by the Postal Service representing $485 million in new annual revenue.
More single item parcels could be shipped over shorter distances from central printing hubs, rather than hundreds of thousands of identical items sent by containerized cargo over vast distances, the IG notes.
It said emerging 3D printing businesses might benefit from the USPS’sdoor-to-door delivery network, with carriers delivery lightweight parcels. The Postal Service might partner with 3D printing businesses and even use excess space in postal facilities, to help streamline the fast delivery of 3D printed goods, according to the paper.
Link: http://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/have-you-ever-used-3d-printer