USPS Says They Make Customer Service Top Priority

In their latest issue of Deliver Magazine USPS says…

Service is Better Business for U.S. Postal Service
October 7, 2011 | by Susan LaChance

We’re working to make every customer touchpoint a positive experience.

You’re probably aware that the U.S. Postal Service is altering its internal structure to help streamline operations and become a leaner, faster, smarter organization. We’re updating alignments and assignments so that we can do business with you in a more efficient and effective way.

As part of that effort, we’ve created a Consumer and Industry Affairs department, which I’m proud to lead. Essentially, my job is to be your advocate inside the Postal Service,™ ensuring that our customers — both individuals and businesses — receive the service they need and expect from us.

To do that, we’re implementing changes across the organization to create a positive experience at every customer touchpoint, whether it takes place at the walk-up window of your local Post Office™ or in the mailroom of a large corporation.

For example, we’re working with our contact centers to make sure that our representatives have answers to your questions when you call, and that they can quickly direct you to the resources you need.

In addition, we’re taking customer service advocacy to a new level within the organization by working to ensure that every service or product we develop has the end user in mind. It’s my job to ask “How does this add value for the customer?” for all of our new products and services. Like you, we need to be sure our customers are getting what they need from us.

We’re also working to simplify the process for working with the Postal Service. For example, customers really like Every Door Direct Mail.™ This tool gives them an on-ramp to get their marketing on the road to success.

With Every Door Direct Mail there’s no need to create — or even maintain — a mailing list. You simply use our free online tool to identify the area you’d like to target, and it does the rest: It calculates the number of addresses in the targeted area and the amount of postage needed, and it even prints out the required forms for you.

Ultimately, we want to create a culture of responsiveness within our organization, so that we take ownership of any issues and work to resolve them — enterprise-wide.

My position is a great example of how we’re going to do that. As a direct report to the Deputy Postmaster General, I will work with all functional groups within our organization to identify opportunities to improve processes that touch our customers and better their experiences. My job is to look at all sides of the issue and then position the concerns of the customer so that others inside the organization understand it.

Doing that, I believe, will help us create positive customer experiences across the organization. And, as a fellow businessperson, I know you understand that’s a critical element for the success of any business today.

Susan LaChance is vice president of Consumer and Industry Affairs for the U.S. Postal Service.

10 Responses to "USPS Says They Make Customer Service Top Priority"

  1. I too believe that the USPS is not making the customer first on any account! I work for a bulk mail house and we have to beg them to take our mail on a daily basis. They will call some of our employees late at night to tell them that a job was unable to mail because there were packaged too tight or didn’t have a paper in the tray detailing what it was, how many were there, and where they needed to go. They will also hold our mail for days before letting us know there is a problem. We recently found out that the Bulk Mail Center that we drop at has been holding political mail for campaigns that have already been voted on. They refuse to give refunds. Their reasoning….”We eventually delivered the mail”. It does no good to deliver mail that is past the date or for classes that had to be cancled because their brochures were not delivered until after the deadline for registration. For other companies to be loosing money at the PO’s whims is completely unacceptable!!!!

  2. Again,Mark Comerford is correct; I have 30 yrs. in as a Postal WORKER,not manager…let me tell you,the mgrs. don’t care about customer service at all…bogus bonuses and making the phony numbers is all they care about…

  3. Patently untrue! The ONLY thing that managemrent has ever cared about, at least for the last twenty years is moey and promotions.
    For the record, work rules, service regulations and federal laws come first, then, if you are able to, or smart enough, saving money whenever possible is great! The Post Office has disregarded mailing standards and the sanctity of the mail for years; instead the “slash and burn” approach of anything goes has been the daily banner. If management was adhering to the regulations they have SWORN to follow when they were promoted the Post Office would have less trouble with their employees and would deliver better, more efficient service.
    Service does not mean cutting throats for profits! ! !

  4. how can the post office be service and the windows are close doing people lunch time/tell me office close from 11.30 to 1.30 is service/big post office windows are close on sat. morning/no service to customer at all

  5. I am presently delivering to a 15 story building where a postal finance station was removed from. Upper management won’t allow me to deliver parcels that won’t fit in the parcel lockers or accountable mail up to the offices. UPS and FEDEX both have offices in the building and are shipping out loads of parcels every day. I had to promise to give up my office break to be able to deliver Express packages. Delivering parcels would take time and make the numbers worse. Fedex and UPS are making a killing and we are giving up, at least management is.

  6. this is such a lie!! I work in an office in Hurst and the postmaster does not allow us to take care of our customers. He is a woefully unprepared to supervise and treats us with disrespect yet demands it for himself. Management is concerned with numbers and scan points and little else. Senior carriers are harassed daily and businesses have been getting their mail after 5pm when most of them have already closed for the day. Giving a letter of warning to carriers, clerks and first line supervisors are the equivalent of an orgasm for upper management. We are going in the tank because of this awful managing. He’s only interested in supervisors that he can intimidate and threaten! Ever heard of a Casual TE carrier being in the 204B program? It’s shameful

  7. my comment to u.s.p.s.working to make the public,customer have a positive experience. just move from your house or apt. we had a major bump down,3 wks. ago.removal from the 13 routes that were removed from the station, were just given to new routes.the most amazing part of this is,as we are streamlining the P.O. ask by supr.what is the mail on the case ? told by carriers they are removal, we get no time to do our jobs,sometimes told by a boss that may have been a coustodian? to kill the mail so much for your public experience~~~

  8. I’m going to write her a nice long letter and tell her what is going on in the trenches. She needs to get off her butt and get out there and see exactly what HQ and/or district has done to customer service. I couldn’t even finish reading her BS. Does she know that clerks, more often than not, have to turn away passport customers for the lack of clerks on the window? That mail is being held and delayed to save work hours? The list goes on. I wonder what her salary is for her fancy job title. All HQ needs to do is ask the workers for reasonable, effective changes that will actually help our service.

  9. It is too late to please the the customers,as long as old en lyres and the management do not change you can not change their working
    Mentality
    .you need to hire new
    Young people and new managers

  10. Seattle is in a battle right now to save our mailrooms which are foot routes. Seattle management seems to think that giving 44 routes in downtown Seattle a vehicle and converting high rise buildings to a park and loop route will save money. WHERE? HOW? Every single postal customer in downtown Seattle is against this insane plan. Management is still steamrolling it through. Help Us!!
    No, this insane plan will only breed more inbred make work micro managers. It will force Seattle downtown business customers to pay a $1700 will call fee every 6 months to pick up their own mail. The idiot manager who planned this scam retired Oct 1st. If they manage like this then even H.R. 1351 won’t be enough to save our postal service. This is proof that management doesn’t care about CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.