The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) delivers mail despite snow, rain, heat and gloom of night. Soon we’ll see if the same goes for a can of green beans.

In a bid to bring in revenue to help it trim red ink, the USPS has been running a test, delivering groceries to homes in the early morning.

So far the project has been attempted only in the San Francisco Bay Area, where it has averaged 160 food deliveries a day between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. in conjunction with Amazon.com. Totes are left at designated spots outside homes so customers aren’t awakened when their orders arrive.

Now postal officials want to expand the program, known as Customized Delivery. If approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, it will continue as a pilot project for two more years.

Postal officials aren’t yet saying how much the service will cost consumers, only that the agency intends to be competitive with private businesses offering home delivery.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

The Postal Service Wants to Deliver Your Groceries Each Morning (by Eric Katz, Government Executive)

Mail and Milk: Struggling Postal Service Wants to Deliver Groceries (by Josh Hicks, Washington Post)

Notice of the United States Postal Service of Market Test of Experimental Product – Customized Delivery (U.S. Postal Service) (pdf)

Postal Service to Close Budget Gap by Launching High-Tech Clothing Line for Men (by Noel Brinkerhoff and Danny Biederman, AllGov)

Should Postal Service Offer eMailboxes and Data Storage? Other Countries Do (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)