Yesterday, the PMG and a panel of postal experts started a conversation on delivering into the future. In order to survive crushing deficits, these six action items were proposed.
• Restructure retiree health benefits prefunding to “pay-as-you-go,” comparable to what is used by the rest of the federal government and the private sector.
• Adjust delivery frequency to better reflect current mail volumes and customer habits.
• Expand access to postal products and services through self-service kiosks, partnerships with other retail outlets, and a world-class website — usps.com.
• Workforce flexibility that allows USPS to put the right people at the right place and at the right time.
• Ensure pricing of Market Dominant mailing products is based on demand for each individual product and its costs, rather than capping prices for every class at the rate of inflation.
• Expand Products and Services by allowing USPS to evaluate and introduce more new products consistent with its mission and compete more effectively in the marketplace.
What do you think of them? Not specific enough? What else should be talked about? Comment here.
For more information, see Envisioning America's Future Postal Service page by clicking here.
33 comments:
We need to be talking about electronic mail i.e. printing hard copy from e mail to be delivered at the destination office
I don't understand what a pay as you go retiree health benefit structure is exactly. Does that mean the former employee pays as they go? thanks
I for one think the employees of the USPS should consider taking a small pay cut in order to save our business. 1 dollar per hour from each employee would be a big savings and I for one do not want the American public to look at the USPS as they do the bailed out car dealers.
I think giving up a dollar each or even $.50 each is a great idea and adds up to big dollars.
It would be nice if PMG Potter would set that example also.
We have got to get things back on track and deliver the mail, thats it...bottom line.
Stop micro managing with all these little reports that do nothing. We spend so much time worrying about the reports we miss the important stuff.
We need to stop trying to compete with retail centers and stick to our basic products.
Push more flat rates, these make it easier for the customer to assess costs.
We need to staff our offices to get overtime off the books: Period!
Paying a Postmaster 40.00 an hour to work Saturdays when a PMR gets 9.25? DO the math.
I believe that some of the senior managers need to get on board with the new realities of how we need to process mail and keep our coustomers happy. We have to get people to want to use our system through reliable service that they can count on to maintain their business.
One size does not fit all. As PMG Potter has said, USPS understands that congress will protect rural America from cuts in service... and rightfully so. Universal service is the ONLY reason we exist today. I for one have no faith that our middle and upper management can, or will, react properly to the challenges in this important area. Yes, belt tightening is absolutely required; but the history of upper management looking after their next NPA first,is as big of an agenda item for financial survival as the other items listed.
There is a great opportunity here to plan for the next 10 years;
x go back to the schools and educate, train, inspire the young the importance of writing
x have each department within each district, sit down, engage their employees on ways of eliminating waste, encourage others to improve service and create
x create a 10 hour 4 day week to save money, time
I believe that all and any ways to cut costs needs to be looked at. One area that needs major reform is the retirement benefits. It is unsusatainable to pay employees not to work, for decades, simply because they have reached a certain age, and or certain # of years of service. Move the retirement age back to 70 or beyond.
Let's get back to basic business - start charging for our services. Since we are in front of Congress already - let's stop the Free Delivery program. We no longer can operate on Free Delivery for every person/residence, anymore. Every mail receptacle should have a fee - City, Rural and Box sections. General Delivery should also be assessed a fee. No successful business can afford to give customers free services, without incurring an expense to the company. We were successful for many years, but now we have the opportunity to help ourselves get back on course. It's a good option and it should be given consideration.
As we all proceed into the unknown we are all wondering why this is happening. We want to blame others for our woes but in reality we ourselves are to blame. We always seem to want a bigger piece of the pie without thinking about the long range affect it will have on our business. When I was a carrier my union was always saying it was managements fault and they are just lieing. We were warned many times this day would come but it was told to us it was just management blowing smoke rings up...Well the day has come and we all need to take part in helping our company survive. There is no need for 100,000 to 1/4 million salaries with bonuses. There is also no need for carriers to work enough overtime to make up to 70,000 or more. We need to be smarter. We all need to budget and keep our company alive. Or would you rather be out of a job within 5 years? I am in middle management and would be willing to give up a dollar an hour, would you???? FYI, I am in a level 13 office and make less than most city carriers. I have been in the USPS for 27 years and would very much like to see it survive and grow in the direction it needs to. It is time to get on track and for all of us to be a team member.
After reading all the various opinions on the future of the USPS, I sense a rather large disconnect between urban dwellers (where many of the opinions and Big Ideas seem to originate) and rural America. Many customers and employees have remarked to me that people east of the Mississippi River don't seem to realize or care that there is an entire country out here. I've read articles (some by people with an obvious agenda) that propose cutting rural mail delivery to just a few days per week (as if rural people don't need to function as much as others), or charging more for rural areas (we already do - check your rate charts), or pulling out of rural areas altogether (will UPS bother with these areas if we don't? Not likely.) My state of Montana is very large and the people are underserved in many aspects of life, from public transportation to healthcare. Despite being force-fed the internet (which many rural folks can't get or afford), the USPS provides an essential service and connection to the outside world and even the federal government. It is still the "glue" of many communities. This connection may not be as important in urban areas that have many (perhaps too many) options, but I hope whatever the master planners develop within the corridors of power has at least some understanding of life beyond the Beltway.
I agree that major ideas and improvements need to be done for the future viability of the USPS and I would like to suggest that they simplify mailing. The flat rate boxes were a great start. Now go back to mailing everything under 13 oz. by weight only. Raise the cost of the 2nd oz and then go back to adding a stamp for every ounce over 1. Get rid of the non machinable surcharge and the "is it a letter, flat or parcel" confusion. Staff the offices according to customer's needs and not the computer reports needs and maybe the customers would come back. We have a long way to go to fix this mess and I hope we can do it.
We need to eliminate duplicity in networks operations. We continue to have area staff increases with additional level EAS 19-21 jobs when they have field folks who do the same job but have a better understanding of local mail movement at a lower level of pay.
We should look at allowing a single + one coverage for health insurance as we do for our vision insurance.
Many of us no longer have children at home and only need insurance for ourselves and a spouse.
It's obvious that this is a subject of much interest and there are a lot of great ideas here. Concerning the "pay-as-you-go" retiree health benefits - we definately need some relief from the current $5M plus we're required to pay. But will we have the money to pay retiree benefits in the future with the continual loss of revenue? Will the government be required to step in if USPS doesn't have the funds? I don't like the idea of employees being told they'll have benefits when they retire only to retire and have them taken away. Delivery frequency is certainly something to look at even if we don't like the idea of losing a day. It's a tough sell to Congress right now, though. Having postal services available in more outlets, be that automated kiosks or other retail stores is important. We live in a 24/7 world and customers often have difficulty getting to a post office when it's open so we need to get the services to them when & where they need them. This also ties in with offering more products and services - make the USPS a convenient place to complete multiple types of transactions. I like the idea of hybrid mail - the internet, email, texting, etc is likely to continue growing so we need to get a piece of it to make ourselves relevant in this high-tech age. I know nobody likes the idea of a smaller workforce or less hours/pay, but that may be the reality to keep us viable. I can see more PTF employees to make the workforce more flexible to have employees available when they are needed and not have to pay them when the workload doesn't support it. More cross-training would help too. When I started I performed both clerk & carrier duties, which I enjoyed. Employees could work in more than one craft, more than one tour and more than one office. Not only would that benefit USPS but employees would learn more to help them advance in their careers and would help crafts support each other more. We need to get out of the us vs. them mindset, whether that be clerks vs carriers, urban vs. rural, large offices vs. small offices or craft vs. management. We need to work as a team and focus on the entire postal service not just our little part of it.
If we really want this fixed it is so simple it stinks. Charge for what we do. We deliver your mail every day to every address. WHy should this be free??? Let UPS or FED EX try it and see how the public squeals with the fees they'd charge. They won't deliver on Sat. so why would anyone think they would "steal" that away from us if we stop delivering on Sat.?? The only reason people complain about our postage rates going up, is because the media harps it to death. They don't notice or care about the increase in grocery items because the media is not down at the store pointing them all out. So no one notices. We need to stop apologizing for each time we raise rates, or else go back to being tax supported so the public will think they are getting a bargain while we reach into their OTHER pocket for our share of the tax pie. I don't hear a lot about all the free mailing we do for all the politicians either. If we stay a "business" we need to grow a set and start acting like a business. We are so encumbered by all the rules congress imposes that it is impossible to operate in a manner even resembling a viable business. I would also venture a guess that the person who wants to take away our retirement and move the age back to at least 70, is already enjoying theirs.
I think we really need some flexibilty in the workforce. Congress isn't the only entity tying our hands...the unions have done a fine job of that in their own rights. They demand more benefits without expecting better performance from their members. (Don't get me started on the unions.) Point is, they need to concede a few points...otherwise their membership will be out of a job altogether, and then what good are they??
All of the proposals in the Plan are good; however, which ones -- if any -- actually are implemented depend on Congress and, to a lesser extent, the unions. We are not seeking any type of taxpayer bailout, nor are we asking our employees to take pay cuts, although -- as mail volume continues to decline -- overtime may also continue to decline. We cannot ask recipients -- other than P. O. box ones -- to pay for mail delivery, because many would not; we can only charge the senders, hence the proposed exigent rate increase. I hope we get the relief we are seeking.
I feel as though I have earned every penny that I have gotten. When I started, my salary was $9.92 an hour. Imagine, if today, I was still making that same pay or even 2-3 dollars more? The cost of living doesn't stop just because of postal woes. The truth of the matter is, this has been coming for a long time. The employees are not the ones receiving bonuses. We are getting paid for what we do (in some cases, what we don't do). That should be across the board. Mgmt should get paid for the job they do, and not expect a bonus. Why should there be a bonus for doing what you were hired to do? An as for those that think retirement should be moved back or taken away, well I don't intend to spend the rest of my life at the postal service, and I'm sorry if life doesn't offer you any enjoyment or incentive to retire and spend time with your family. Things change and so do the times. It is called progress and whichever road the postal service takes, God Bless! There is life beyond.
I just read a fact that 92% of our revenue comes from 15,000 of our 36,000 offices. As a standalone business one would never survive keeping the stores opened that don't pay their way. I understand the need to have these small offices open due to the Americana way of life and the need for the rural part of our country to have access to information. But this portion of our business should be subsidies (is it really subsidizing us when Congress has taken billions from us since the Reagan era?) as well as the free mailing Congress gets, and the help that non-profits organization get.
Before we start changing our retirement program lets work on improving the health of those that are on OWCP for decades and still have not returned to work or have taken a disability retirement. I like the idea of sending them through vocational rehab and getting them back to work somewhere in society. Most importantly for us that are still in employed by the Postal Service come to work and due your best to get the job efficiently with the thought that every penny saved counts.
There is still no one that is looking at the fact that our Postmaster General Potter recieved a 39% raise in Nov 2007 that was retroactive to Jan 1, 2007 along with an 800,000.00 bonus. All the top 25 positions were awarded a minimum of 15% raise with bonuses. He also recieved another raise and bonus in 2008. The raise and bonus that he was going to get in 2009 was stopped by President Obama. So, before I take any reduction in pay, I would like to see pay cuts from the top people in the USPS Organization. They keep saying we do not have lay offs, but when you are required to transfer to a Post Office two to five hundred miles away or you do not have a job so you have to quit that is worse than a lay off.
Everyone confuses Pay for Performance as a bonus! EAS employees do NOT receive COLA like the craft employees do. Instead their pay increases are based on performance goals, which they have very little input on. Personally, I would love to trash the PFP system and go back to time in service-time in grade system. Take a look at your annual wage and compare it to the average income in your states and you will see that we are above average in most cases. I don't see a wage cut, but I could support a wage freeze...but only if it's across the board...from Potter to the PTF.
Ditto to the wage freeze!
I am a level 13 Postmaster. I worked at a larger Post Office 7 years ago. I now make $5.00 LESS per hour than a fellow clerk that has the same amount of time as I do. I have been at this Office for 6 years now and have only recieved a Pay for Performance raise 3 out of the 6 years. So my wages have been frozen already. The first year the previous Postmaster recieved the lump sum of the raise even though he only worked 5 months that year. I recieved nothing since I did not work the FULL year. The second year my carrier had an accident and my PMR quit. I was over budget for my work hours and his accident counted against my raise. Last year I missed because I was over my PLAN for expences and hours. If I fill the propane tank I go over budget for the year for utilities. I work many hours over the 40 hours that I am paid. So I really do not want to have my wages froze any more than they have been already. With this economy I do not expect to see a raise again this year unless I sit in an office without any heat or air condition. I sometimes wish I was a clerk again.
What about the "standby rooms" we have now? Clerks must sit in them on the clock, until there is more work for them to do.
On the other side,carriers are being paid overtime because they need help.
The unions must learn to work together.
There is no reason to have strong unions if there is not a strong organization to work with.
I would like to see a reasonable incentive given for retirement. We have plenty of people who will go and either the workforce can be reduced earler or lower paid or part time employees can be hired in their place.
One of the other things I'd like to see axed is the stupid contests for Business Connect, etc. It reminds me of when my daughter was in school & they were awarded pizzas for reading enough or popcorn & movie parties for doing something. We should be promoting the postal service & it's products simply because it's part of our jobs, not because we want to win some competition. Some of the marketing material we receive are a waste of money. Many of these are send in large quantitites to small offices that can't use them. Ditto forms & supplies. The minimum required to order is way too much for some offices, especially when they are outdated and changed regularly. I try to print my forms from the Blue page as much as possible and sometimes share forms with other offices but, as a company, we waste too much - and this includes all the stupid reports we're required to print & file, then purge a few months later. And why can't we charge the recipients for their mail service? Some countries do and way back the recipient of a letter paid the postage. Of course that would mean the mailbox would be open to everyone to use but just because that's different from how we do it now doesn't mean it can't be changed. Years ago we charged for all PO Boxes, even the small offices had a nominal fee. When that was dropped it cost those offices a good portion of their revenue & we need that revenue now.
Let Addresses(homes) Pay a Premium fees directly to local post office or usps.com if they want delivery 6 days otherwise they need to live with 5 or 4 days. This also would offset as source of Revenue. This rate should be higher than PO box as we need to add the delivery cost to home. Another source of Revenue would be charge for every address (home) where they need
delivery. This also need to be higher than PO boxes as Delivery van needs to take into account fuel and Mileage. So there is ways to make this profitable if Congress helps us sensibly.
Mandate Every Home and Business to have PO Box or mailbox and they need to register with Fees taken out of Paycheck or as part of IRS federal tax.
Make other Services added so that changing to 5 day or any such replacement means having to cut the staff but shift them to alternate or new services that generate revenue. Some of the services that can be added are mail orders prescriptions, bank Transactions. How about having a premium PO BOx that has a online mailbox that user can checkin to see only From and to Addresses on a daily basis that is scanned. This helps PO Box users to only come to PO Box only when there is important mail they are expecting and users having PO Box and Home Address box can request this delivered to home on a need or periodic weekly delivery.
Back in 1992, before EAS employees lost COLA and time in grade pay increases the pay for an EAS-23 was close to the pay of a GS-14. Today a GS-14 tops out at $26,000 more than an EAS 23. We have given up some of our earnings due to the lack of COLA and the new wave pay for performance program the Postal Service has implemented.
Customer Service? What's that? I am so tried of the attitudes of many (not all) carriers when it comes to customer service. That is on of the many ways our company will survive. When we have clerks and carriers who are unwilling to take that extra step for there customer, that says a lot about us as a whole. We all know it only takes one "rotten apple" to spoil the whole bunch. And yes why can't the unions learn to work together? I had a problem which kept me office bound for 3 days. Since it was 1 week before Christmas I was willing to stand in the lobby and help customers with the Automated Postal center. Well the clerks were mad and decided to put in a grievance. You will never see a clerk out there helping customers one after another for an hour. For some it's all about the money they want to take with out earning the right way. The unions also need to stop being so money hungry to get carriers money they don't always deserve due to unnecissary mandation. Is it going to kill us to walk away from a grievance that may gain us an extra $10.00 in a pay check? It's not about teaching mgmt. a lesson it's about keeping your or your friends job in the years to come.
I agree 100% with what "concerned" said about simplifying the mailing rates. And I would take that one step further and eliminate the media mail rate. It is the most abused rate we have and with flat rate boxes now people can mail their heavy books in them and still get a break on their postage.
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