How Big Data and the Internet of Postal Things Project Will Change the Postal Service

In the future, according to a report released in May by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG), "the convergence between the increasing amount of actionable data, the ubiquity of network connectivity to integrate and share this data, and the rapid development of analytics may open up a new world of opportunities for postal operators—the "Internet of Postal Things."

The possibility of equipping the postal network (vehicles, mailboxes, mail pieces and parcels, sorting centers, etc.) with low-cost sensors will exponentially expand the capability of postal operators to collect valuable data. This new rich data sources could help