The recent woes of the United States Postal Service (USPS) are well known,  but that doesn’t mean the service  can’t find a friend in digital messaging.

The USPS’s Office of Inspector General is offering up to $100,000 to any supplier that can help it realize the potential of low-cost sensors and wireless technologies. In a solicitation document published recently, the USPS said it is looking for vendors “who possesses expertise and critical knowledge of the Internet of Things, data strategy and analytics,” and especially those with knowledge of how the Post Office works.

The document indicates that the Internet of Things initiative will also be closely tied to big data analysis of the information collected.  Prospective vendors also need to address privacy concerns associated with the collection of mass amounts of consumer data.

The USPS says it has one of the biggest supercomputer centers in the United States (from a report last month [PDF].) It needs it. The Post Office scans mail pieces and parcels up to 11 times each, which adds up to about 1.7 trillion scans a year.

An attachment to the solicitation document features examples of where big data and sensors are already being used to solve operational issues (see attachment A, Word document), such as predictive fleet maintenance. Other innovative experiments in play, which are not entirely postal-related, include “the use of handheld terminals as a source of consumer data” and “the use of sensors on postal trucks to collect environmental data that could benefit local governments.”

The USPS needs to streamline operations. Annual first-class mail volume has declined 37% since 2000 and the service has lost money in 20 of the last 22 quarters. Management clearly believes that innovations like using sensors to fine-tune tracking of vehicles, parcels and people while putting predictive analysis to work, can stem the bleeding.

photo credit: Steve 2.0 via photopin cc