Special Delivery: Postal Service Names First VP of Sustainability

First task will be to take stock of service’s greenhouse gas emissions

By Dennis Schaal

The U.S. Postal Service put its stamp on a trend: It created the position and named its first corporate vice president of sustainability.

Sam Pulcrano, a 33-year veteran of the service and its director of safety and environmental performance management, takes on the new sustainability role and is charged with coordinating energy and environmental programs throughout the Postal Service.

On his immediate agenda, according to the service, will be completing an inventory of the service’s greenhouse gas emissions and formulating a plan to diminish them.

Joanne Veto, a Postal Service spokeswoman, said: "This position formalizes efforts that have been ongoing for years around the environment, energy and sustainability and places it under the purview of one person with responsibilities across all departments within the Postal Service. So, if marketing is developing a 'green' product and supply management has been charged with putting out an RFP, both those efforts will be reviewed by Mr. Pulcrano. "

Postmaster General John Potter stated that “this new position simply puts a more formal structure in place at an organization that has been environmentally smart and friendly for more than 200 years."

The Postal Service, which says about one-third of all postal deliveries are made on foot, recently launched a new website feature, Greener Choices, that gives consumers suggestions about how to make environmentally focused decisions about their mail.