Global Postal Automation

Abstract

Since the late 1950s there has been a shift in postal automation in the United States. In this paper, we examine the effects of postal automation in the U.S. and focus on the major innovations that have been implemented to increase productivity and decrease labor costs. From the beginning of the New Field Theory approach to image processing technologies, we focus on the role of Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Similarly, we also discuss how other countries, such as India, China, and Japan, have executed postal automation. With rising concerns about automation and the effect it could have on the labor market, we examine what lies ahead in the future for postal automation.