US Postal Service Vows It Won't Cut Service
Message at this week's National Postal Forum: Times are tough but prices will hold steady and investment will continue.
By Lisa Cross, Senior Editor -- Graphic Arts Online, May 20, 2009
USPS officials message at this week’s National Postal Forum, concluding today in Washington, DC, was despite a $6.5 billion loss this year it won’t raise prices (rates went up last week 2 cents on first-class postage) cut service, ask lawmakers for a bail out, and it will continue to invest in modernizing the mailing industry.
Half of the cost of printing is in distribution, and half the U.S. printing industries volume goes through the postal service, said Ben Cooper as Executive Director of The Print Council.
The agency’s current financial situation dominated the event’s general sessions. USPS expects to lose $6.5 million and have cash shortfall of over $1.5 billion, hurt by mail volume declines and $5.2 to $5.8 billion annual payment to prefund retiree health benefits.
The payment schedule, mandated by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, was based on balancing the budget, not on the actual amount needed to fund the benefits. A measure in Congress seeks to redirect a portion of the USPS’s prior payments to the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Trust Fund, estimated to be $2 billion this year, to pay its current retiree health benefits through 2016.
Postmaster General John Potter reported that the U.S. Postal Service slashed 25,000 jobs this year and agency employment is below 635,000, down from about 800,000 in 1999. He said thousands of carrier routes have also been eliminated, as mail volume declines,noting that USPS will handle 170 billion mail pieces this year, well below its peak of more than 210 billion.
Potter, who previously suggested to Congress the possibility of a five-day delivery week, said on the subject, "People should take it for granted that they're going to get mail six days a week. They'll hear from us if we should ever change the frequency of delivery."
A major point of interest at the forum was the proposed USPS Summer Sale on Standard Mail letters and flats, intended to drive volume during slower summer months. The offer, pending approval by the Postal Regulatory Commission, offers a 30% rebate on Standard Mail letters and flats that are above a mailers average volume for the period. To be eligible, companies must have mailed more than 1 million pieces between Oct. 1, 2007, and March 31, 2008. In addition, the Postal Service is opening up the “summer sale” program to mailers participating in other USPS volume-incentive programs.
The annual event--which drew about 5,000, attendance was down 40%--offered attendees professional certifications (15 were offered) in areas that cross between digital print production, finishing and mailing handling, along with an exhibition of vendors offer mailing equipment and services.
Exhibitor Bowe Bell and Howell (click here for exhibit highlights) hosted a customer symposium to inform participants of the latest innovations and cost-saving solutions. “Given the current economic climate, our customers are looking for solutions that will produce genuine cost savings and efficiencies,” says president John Lombard.
Pitney Bowes showcased its new INVIEW Mailstream Management Suite software package to help mailers gain greater visibility into all their mailstream spending from one central location. For more
GrayHair Software announced a strategic partnership with Neopost that incorporates its mail tracking and IMb services into Neopost’s production systems. For more
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Jim: ".....Mr Potter is doing a good job. Thank God for USPS ....."
Keep your head in the sand, you obviously haven't been paying attention:
2006 - "Shape based pricing" - Catalog prices up 150%, flats up 97% - result= Cataloggers STOPPED mailing altogether, toala mail volume dropped by 47%.
2007 - Price increase - mail volume drops another 10%
2008 - Move Update regulation, FSS regulation - mail volume drops another 7%.
2009 - New Booklet tabbing regulation - mail volume (from 1/1/09 to date) drops another 27%.
Yep, I'd say Potter is doing a bang-up job. Hey, I know, let's blame it on the economy and the interenet instead of mis-management. That's the ticket -- yeah!
Earl Howell - 2009-3-6 06:04:00 MDT -
Mr Potter is doing a good job.
Thank God for USPS
Jim Stamp - 2009-24-5 14:14:00 MDT -
I don't quite thnk that Postmaster Potter VOWED not to cut service. Frankly there will have to be changes and it will affect service. Postmaster Potter is very cautious with his words and it is my belief that standard delivery to every home, every Saturday will eventually have to be suspended. Not in this session of Congress, granted, but they can't face the declining mail volumes without some dramatic change to reduce costs.
Gerard Hempstead - 2009-22-5 09:57:00 MDT -
I find it totally unbelievable that the USPS say they will not be cutting services when at our bulk mail unit they are cutting out the only person there who knows what is going on. She is a Mail Piece Design Analyst but supervises the unit. We are going to be left with inexperienced people who we will have to explain the mailing specifications to in order to get our mail through the system.
Phyllis Burns - 2009-21-5 08:40:00 MDT -
we have been cutting service for years. carriers are told daily to leave customers mail on the floor so we can cover the routes that are left open because we do not have enough people....pivot, pivot, pivot
Kathy - 2009-21-5 05:52:00 MDT
USPS reveals 10-year business plan
03/02/2010USPS Reports Q3 Loss of More Than $1 Billion
08/05/2008USPS brings back summer sale
03/05/2010
