Benny here.
It looks like we are on track to lose more money, including more than a billion dollars last month alone.
We've all found ways to trim workhours and expenses, so what can we do to increase revenue?
I think it may come down to each one of use doing whatever we can to bring in revenue.
My next door neighbor, Abe Wasserman, bought a birthday card for his daughter at the drug store. Why buy it at drug or grocery store where they get all the money? This month you can add an American Express Gift card in that envelope and buy it at the Post Office too!
Mrs.. Clemons down the street suggested that the Pie Society use the mail in a colorful padded bag to send their goodies instead of that shyster McAndrew's rickety horse and buggy who just drops it on the porch.
My PO Box customers keep paying the PO Box rent later and later. I decided to charge them the required late fee just like my mortgage company.
My clerk, Joseph Farland, has been on a new mission to collect short-paid revenue.
So, what can you do to help increase revenue? Any ideas that have worked? Let's share them -- for the sake of our future. Comment here!
17 comments:
Of course there are no comments because there are some of us that are just tired of talking BECAUSE I feel that nothing is being done. Yes things are changing but are they for the better?? Routes are being moved to bigger offices BUT the PM's are still being paid for what they were for another 2 years AND clerks are being let go. Is this a solution???? I myself don't think so. I try my best to catch short paid items but it is tough when somebody else in the office doesn't agree with you and lets the piece go thru. I try to sell the best service but it is tough when the SSA next to you sells only parcel post. Get the employees that are on details BACK to their original positions - if they don't want to go back then they are let go. We waste so much money for all of these details that it is pathetic. We have 2 supervisors that are on details out of my office AND will never be back because they are making too much money.But yet they are still holding a position in the office AND are in a position that will probably never be put up for bid. I guess it doesn't matter anymore BECAUSE NOTHING WILL CHANGE.
They need to change how they evaluate an office. The mail that is delivered has value, but it is only counted at the point of entry. The point of delivery needs credit too, without the point of delivery that piece would not have entered the system. The way they look at revenue is weighted against small offices and for big offices.
Display your commemorative stamps! Now that they are Forever stamps they will be all the more in demand. I am a small, Midwest rural office and had visitors stop in yesterday from the west coast. They couldn't believe all the forever stamps the Postal Service has available. They came for some postcards stamps and left with an additional 4 sheets. I have this happen with most visitors to my office. Check mail that is brought in with postage applied, especially if they are a company that brings mail in daily. They get lax about checking every flat or package etc. I find many flats that need another .20 or tyvek envelopes with the flat rate postage on them especially if they are prepared with several flat rate envelopes. I worked in a different office last week and the former OIC was lax about collecting postage due articles. In two days I found over 7.00 postage due; think if every office would check their packages and flats. It would add up! We're in this together and need to work together to get out of this mess!
Rather than cutting services in an effort to cut costs, we should be looking at additional services and products we can offer our customers to increase revenue! The greeting cards and gift cards are a good start, and many offices have copiers in their lobbies...how about fax service, notary service, bill paying? It seems the smart thing to do would be to make the Post Office the "go to" place, the first place people think of when they need something.
In the past few months, I have told several customers about ordering our Priority Mail supplies and using online postage for their small home-based businesses.
Through educating customers, and making it easier to do business with us, we WILL increase revenue. Every USPS employee, from casuals to the PMG needs to be knowledgable about our services and promote them. Not only at work, but to friends and neighbors as well.
We also need to be diligent about checking click n ship parcels both outgoing and incoming to our offices. I can't begin to count the number of incoming click n ship parcels that were not weighed correctly and therefore were postage due. This is revenue we are due folks, lets do our job and help save our jobs.
Small town postmaster in Iowa
I agree with #6. We need to take more time checking packages to make sure they have the required postage on them. Seems like we are always running up against the clock, but the revenue we gain will make up for the few extra minutes it takes to collect that revenue we so desperately need.
For gifts, I give my daughter's friends (teenagers) and my friends subscriptions to magazines---they come out to the same price of a gift and they receive something every month! I also mail out my bills and put the latest stamps on them--for others to see. And I love funny cards to send to my friends---even my facebook kiddos like to do that. Also,when buying items on the web, I see which do not mail items via USPS and forward them as a 'lead' to mkting. I also love using the APC on Sundays and showing customers how to use it--
I understand the comment #1 is making as I see it everyday.
I wish the OIG would really take alook at accidents, and grievences.
We are losing thousands in just those two areas.
As a previous poster said, we need to be the one-stop shopping location.
Why can't offices sell co-branded products? I was in a very small community and sold the t-shirts out all the time. How about bringing back the Greetings postcards? Those were popular also. If we have a list of choices, offices know what will sell in their areas. Think of finding a last-minute gift or souvenier to send.
Instead of owning copying or fax machines for public use, why not sub-lease in areas where that service is not readily available?
One change that would save time, money, and supplies is to eliminate the requirement for offices that do not have Saturday window hours to submit NIL-Bill registers. If I recall correctly, it was instituted for the sake of uniformity. Post #6, amen on checking click-n-ship labels, I have collected substantial amounts of postage due on those.
How about cutting out the MPOO positions and having a rural carrier deliver 2 routes. The rural carrier would do one route on M-W-F and the other route on T-TH-Sat. Three day delivery for the routes. This would help to save the small Post Offices. You can't cut out the small Post Offices and survive.
We have some managers that knowingly violate the union contracts and the postal service ends up paying out THOUSANDS of dollars to craft employees. How about making managers responsible for the payout when they've knowingly violated the contract?
i agree with your comment on managers knowingly violating the contracts, but we also have carriers that do the samething. there is a route driver in my area that takes 1 1/2 hour on her lunch and gets by with it becuase she has no supervision. it takes her until 4pm to deliver mail sometimes longer and she dosen't even deliver most to the right house!!!!! when her rca works the mail is done by 2pm!!!!! so i don't belive it is just management that is violating contracts or milking the postal service.
I agree with the two previous post kinda sorta. Long gone are the days that we as managers should have to sit back and watch as employees "milk the clock". We should be allowed to help out where ever possible to give our customers the best service - for instance if there is a line - let managers or supervisors wait on customers. If there is a heavy mail day allow them to sort or even box mail and let them help the carriers out by possibly delivering large parcels. This would be great if they could do this with out the unions filing a grievence. Managers should no longer have to tolerate the employees that can not perform their duties effectively. Make it to where carriers don't get overtime (anytime of the year!). If they know they won't get paid overtime I would just bet they would make it back in on their scheduled time. Yes we are losing money but we should be able to stop the bleeding just a little but stopping the unnecessary grievences. As for managers that knowingly violate the contracts that can be taken both ways.
From the above post, not paying for overtime would be violating the contract. As to the post above that, if the rca does the route, then that means it is a rural carrier route, and rural carriers only get paid for the length of the route and number of stops on the route---so time is only a factor by having to be back in time to drop off the mail they collected that day. The rural carrier is not violating their contract by taking longer.
What can I do? What can't I do? Our hands are tied so tight its cutting off the blood supply. I could end Saturday delivery in my small town easy.....but without Congress I can't do a thing. On slow days I could close early and take LWOP, oh...mandatory hours are required. My carriers are making over $20 an hour, let me hire local people for about half that....its better wages then they are getting paid around here. Instead of EMA, let us buy a car for the carrriers to use...we will pay for the gas and up keep. They take home more in EMA a week then my spouse makes working a regular job! Give me $150,000 a year without strings attached....let me run this office like a business...and I will save the USPS $100,000 a year. Will that help?
Post a Comment