Get ready for a leaner, meaner and more technologically advanced U.S. Postal Service.
During a conference call on July 1, Postmaster General John E. “Jack” Potter discussed USPS’ plan to reorganize itself over the next year by creating a new shipping and mailing services division. The new unit will consolidate all product management, product development and commercial sales and will allow USPS to take a more competitive position in the shipping market. The USPS is also establishing a new customer relations department to better meet the needs of businesses and individual mailers.
Potter said the reorganization is partly to prepare for the May 2009 rollout of USPS’ new Intelligent Mail Barcode system, which will improve operations and enable customers to track letters and parcels as they move through the mail stream. The 65-bar code will be required starting in May 2009 for companies looking to earn the maximum USPS automation discounts.
It replaces the POSTNET and PLANET barcode systems which are already in place and promises to raise the level of service the USPS provides to its customers. The new system was originally due to be rolled out in January but the USPS postponed implementation due to a lack of public awareness.
The reorganization is also in response the passage of the Postal Reform Accountability Act of 2006, which gives the USPS greater flexibility over pricing and allows it to better compete against rivals UPS and FedEx. Without being specific, Potter said the Act provides “new competitive opportunities” which the USPS wants to seize upon, and the best way to accomplish that, he says, is to restructure. USPS’ first initiative under the Act was to implement a new rate structure based on both weight and shape (as opposed to just weight), which went into effect in May 2007.
Potter said part of USPS’ job over the next year is to educate consumers and business owners about the benefits the new barcode system will bring, including low-cost proof of mailing, wherein mailers can get advance notice about when their high-value mail pieces will reach their destinations; and payment tracking, which lets a company see when an individual customer’s check (or response) is on the way back. As part of the restructuring, USPS will consolidate all Intelligent Mail Barcode activities under the chief operating officer.
When asked if the reorganization was part of a conscious effort on USPS’ part to fashion itself after other major shippers, Potter said there was “no intentional effort to model after another carrier.”
“Just like everyone else, we’re feeling the weak economy,” he said. “But we’re ready to build on what we have – and when the economy bounces back, we want to bounce back with it.”
When asked whether the re-organization and subsequent consolidation will result in any job cuts, Potter said only that the post office “might not be doing things the same way it was a few years ago.”
So what changes will the reorganization bring about for the USPS?
“I’m hoping to see our ability to use pricing in a very strategic way – both for our market dominant and competitive products,” Potter said. “I’m hoping we can take negotiation of contracts from what is a very few contracts negotiated centrally and move those contracts out into the marketplace.”
He also imagines a better-trained and well-focused sales group, as well as “stronger partnerships and alliances with other organizations outside of the USPS to go out into the marketplace.”
Furthermore Potter expects the agency to develop “a more effective game plan on how to reach out to the mid-market — because while we do an effective job with very large customers, and we’re as good as any in dealing with consumers, it’s that mid- and small-sized business market that is a real opportunity. So I’d like to see us figure out ways to serve them better and take some of those barriers down — whether it’s permits or the like.”