INSIGHT

Stamps are inconvenient and costly.

The paper stamp has long been considered an essential step to sending mail, but a study from 2016 shows that stamps are a frustrating pain point for customers, especially in this culture of screens. People expect a postal service experience to be as easy as e-mail. 95% of customers search for, “how much postage do I need to send this mail?” immediately followed by, “where can I get postage?” The inconvenience of getting stamps and knowing the right postage is a pain point for customers.

BACKGROUND

Make the Blue Collection Box smarter about stamps.

We designed and created a new device to fit on any of the 150,000+ existing collection boxes, transforming them into Smart Blue Boxes—entry points into the USPS system. Built around AI and self-sufficient with solar panels, they talk, listen, weigh, and transact. Now every postal collection box on a street corner can be voice-activated to weigh packages, calculate postage, and send mail without stamps — you just have to say so.

IDEA

Your voice is your stamp.

Voice Stamp—one feature of the Smart Blue Box—replaces the paper stamp with voice authentication, so you can drop mail into a collection box without affixing a paper stamp. More importantly, Voice Stamp uses the existing postal system. That is, the postal sorting facilities already scan every letter for origin and destination. The innovation then simply links the information on your letter or package to your account, charging via the cloud to the credit card on file for your account. In the age of voice recognition, the Voice Stamp is the next big step forward for mail.

How it works:

Once the voice stamp is activated and the mail is dropped in the collection box, the postal carrier will pick it up and bring it to a sorting facility. There the mail gets scanned in the by the AFC-System from Siemens. To work with voice stamp, it will get a software update to match now the address in the cloud with the voice stamp users profil. Watch the actual process – without using voicse stamp – here.

THE BUSINESS CASE

7 billion stamps go unsold and unused every year.*

Voice Stamp changes the game with a pay-per-stamp model, which creates no waste and matches demand uncertainty in real time. Replacing the stamp with the paperless and invisible Voice Stamp means big savings for the U.S. Postal Service, which produces up to 7 billion excess stamps every year. Voice Stamp could save the USPS up to $147 million yearly.

*Sources:
National Postal Facts 2016 / 7 Billion unsold stamps
Postal Service Office of Inspector General 2008

THE TECHNOLOGY

Machine learning combined with OpenAPI's.

We used the latest cloud-based API’s and SDK’s from leading technology companies to build a Python-based architecture connected to the cloud service API.AI. See below for more information on how our Smart Blue Box got so smart.

API.AI

API.AI

The cloud service API.AI is the Smart Blue Box’s brain. Its machine learning capability helps the Box get smarter with every user interaction.

Sensory TrulySecure

Sensory TrulySecure

Sensory’s TrulySecure SDK for voice identification connects a user’s identity to their voice-verified USPS profile once it hears the trigger words.

Sensory TrulyHandsfree

SensoryTrulyHandsfree

TrulyHandsfree from Sensory creates the trigger words “Hello Blue Box”. This command activates the Smart Blue Box.

USPS Account

MyUSPS.com Account

This specific U.S. Postal Service API allows access to the User Account for the Voice Stamp.

USPS Services

Postal Service API's

These various APIs give the Box information on post office locations, postage prices, pickup times, and other functions.

Natural Language API

Natural Language API

The Google Cloud Natural Language API uses machine learning so the Box can understand sentiment and intent from users’ various voice commands.

AWS Polly

Voice to Text API

AWS Polly turns the API.AI text into lifelike speech, facilitating the conversation between the user and the Blue Box.

Translate API

Translate API

Google’s cloud service teaches the Smart Blue Box to understand and respond in 37 languages.

Places API

Places API

Other features from Google’s cloud service equips the Smart Blue Box with information on nearby locations, weather, and voice.