Roadmap for change
A year ago, the Postal Service unveiled a comprehensive action plan that laid out a roadmap for USPS to increase efficiency and address the elements of managing costs under its control.
In the year since then, the Postal Service has aggressively pursued more than two dozen initiatives targeting operational, managerial and market-responsive changes to better manage and control costs. These include USPS strategies designed to:
Over and above the changes outlined in the original plan, PMG Pat Donahoe in December 2010 reported USPS would focus on four core business strategies to help it return to profitability. These include:
- Strengthening the business-to-customer channel;
- Improving the customer experience;
- Growing the package business; and,
- Becoming a leaner, faster, smarter organization.
That was followed in January with announcements of a 16 percent reduction in the officer ranks, a realignment of senior management positions designed to create an organizational structure to improve and strengthen customer services and relationships, and the impending closure of the Southeast Area.
The Postal Service of the future will be smaller, acknowledges Donahoe, who early last month added that continuing redesign efforts will include closing 10 districts, closing about 2,000 Post Offices, eliminating some 7,500 positions and moving ahead with the consolidation of network and mail processing operations.
Financial challenges outside direct USPS control — such as the mandated prepayment of retiree health benefits, overpayments into the Federal Employee Retirement System, and the requirement to provide 6-day delivery — must be addressed by Congress.
Source: USPS