Press release:

U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, today sent a letter to John E. Potter, the Postmaster General of the United States, urging him to consider the impact on small businesses of reducing the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) delivery week from six days to five. Snowe cited the potential negative consequences such an action could have on America’s roughly 27.2 million small businesses.

“America’s small businesses depend on reliable and consistent service from the USPS, and they could suffer significant setbacks by a shortened mail delivery week, such as lost sales, order backlogs, and job cuts,” said Senator Snowe. “While I understand the Postmaster General’s desire to reduce costs, it is imperative that his actions not have a detrimental effect on consumer spending or the small businesses that make up the backbone of our economy.”

Postmaster General Potter announced the possibility of shortening the USPS’s delivery week in late January, citing his agency’s potential $6 billion deficit this fiscal year and the difficult economic climate. The United States Postal Service, which is the nation’s second-largest employer, is the only mailing service that delivers to every address in the country.

The text of the letter is below:

Mr. John E. Potter
Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer
United States Postal Service

Dear Mr. Potter:

In light of your recent announcement that you are considering cutting postal delivery by one day per week, I am writing to request that you consider the potential harmful impact this action could have on America’s 27.2 million small businesses.

A six-day delivery week is essential to ensuring that our nation’s small businesses are able to reach their customers in an appropriate and well-timed manner. According to the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) website, on average the USPS delivers to 9 million businesses each day your trucks are operating. As Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I am concerned that reducing your delivery week by one day may have devastating consequences for mail-order and internet-based businesses, newspapers, and the millions of small companies that utilize the USPS for timely mail delivery.

In my home state of Maine, thousands of businesses – large and small – depend on reliable and consistent service from the USPS. From retail clothing and outdoor specialist L.L. Bean to the dozens of Maine fishermen and lobstermen who ship fresh seafood across the world – and companies in between – Maine businesses simply must have access to a postal service that can deliver on a regular basis. These firms could all suffer significant setbacks by a shortened mail delivery week, from lost sales, to order backlogs, to job cuts.

While I understand your desire to slash costs and your overall concern given the tremendous economic crisis our country is facing, it is imperative that your actions not have a detrimental effect on consumer spending or the small businesses that make up the backbone of our economy. I hope that you will keep me informed of your findings as you weigh the consequences a shortened mail week would have on our country’s small firms.

REMARKS OF JOHN E. POTTER
POSTMASTER GENERAL AND CEO OF THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
NATIONAL POSTAL CUSTOMER COUNCIL DAY
SEPT. 17, 2008

Please note: Mr. Potter may deviate from the prepared remarks

Thank to all of you for taking time out from your busy schedules to join us today.

I’d like to congratulate St. Louis on their selection as PCC of the year and thank them for hosting this year’s national event.

Before we get down to business our thoughts and prayers go out to those whose lives have been disrupted by Hurricane Ike – all the way from the gulf right up through the Midwest. For some, the effects will be short lived-for others the road to recovery will be a much longer journey.

My congratulations to Pat Donahoe and his postal team for their constant communication as the storm moved ashore and for quickly reopening facilities and delivering mail when safe conditions allow.

You can count on us to do our small part to help bring a sense of normalcy back to the affected areas.
Read the rest of this entry »

Postmaster General John E. Potter challenged the mailing industry today, cautioning mailers about the severity of the current economic climate and urging them to create new growth opportunities.

Citing fluctuating oil prices, inflation in paper prices and the strife in the financial markets, Potter described challenging economic conditions as the most difficult time since the 1960s. The additional move of hardcopy messages to the Internet and questions about mail’s environmental impact have led to a volume decline of 9 billion pieces this year.

Despite the tough times, Potter called on the mailing industry to seek new sources of growth.

“We have to approach the business in a whole new way,” Potter said. “We have to develop new ways for the American people and American business to use the mail.”

Despite the challenges ahead, Potter remains confident in the strength and commitment of the Postal Service and the mailing industry as a whole.

“Once the economic storm passes, our industry will rebound,” Potter told the audience of 14,000 PCC members. “If we remain focused on the fundamentals of our industry and if we reach out to new audiences, we will again reach new heights.”

The Postmaster General’s comments came during the national Postal Customer Council (PCC) Day broadcast, an annual event that brings mailers, industry partners and customers together to recognize their contributions to the Postal Service and outline future plans and goals.

One of these goals is to continue to improve record-setting levels of service. Working with the mailing industry and the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Postal Service has developed a new set of modern service standards for each class of mail and will begin measuring performance against these standards this year. In addition, improvements in customer satisfaction, scan rates, network effectiveness and the Postal Service’s website, usps.com, will be top priorities moving forward, Potter said.

“Service is what we’re all about. It is our franchise, the very reason for our existence,” he said.

Potter also called on the mailing industry to adapt to the changing marketplace and invest in the future. The Intelligent Mail Barcode is one way the Postal Service is leveraging technology to provide greater value and ease to business mailers, he said. Storing three times the amount of data of the current barcodes, the Intelligent Mail Barcode helps customers manage mail flow by uniquely identifying every piece in a mailing. The technology allows mailers to sort, track and receive address correction, all from one barcode.

Affordable prices that deliver value are a key element to retain and grow business, Potter said. The agency has reduced costs $1 billion or more for each of the past seven years and, through creative business solutions, absorbed the $700 million rise in fuel costs last year so that these costs were not passed on to customers as fuel surcharges.

“The price you see is the price you pay,” Potter said.

Reduction in costs alone will not be enough to overcome difficult economic times, he said, identifying several opportunities for growth through innovative new products, including a new, large Priority Mail Flat Rate Box and using the mail for recycling and product take-back programs.

Potter took a moment in the broadcast to recognize the recent devastation caused by Hurricane Ike and pledged the Postal Service’s continued support to victims in the areas affected by the storm, acknowledging the organization’s role to “bring a sense of normalcy” to the affected areas.

The Postal Customer Council (PCC) is a network of community-based business mailers and representatives of the U.S. Postal Service, who gather regularly to share ideas and resources to create a closer working relationship. On both the national and local levels, PCCs work to improve service and communications.

To help keep the lines of communication open, the Postal Service has launched the first official postal blog at 2blogPCC.com. Customers can discuss important topics facing the mailing industry, access the latest information and provide feedback.

National PCC Day also showcases the work of PCCs and includes a series of awards recognizing outstanding service and individual achievement. The following award winners were announced:

* PCC Industry Member of the Year: Peggy Smith, Co-Chair, Greater St. Louis.
* PCC Postal Service Member of the Year: Victor Laudisio, Customer Relations Coordinator, Buffalo/Niagara.
* PCC of the Year: A tie! Buffalo/Niagara and Greater New York (large market) and Capital Region (small market).
* PCC District Manager of the Year: Charles Howe, Greater Michigan District.
* Communication Program Excellence: Greater New York and Capital Region (gold), Buffalo/Niagara and Greater Dallas (silver) and Fort Worth and West Michigan (bronze).
* Education Program Excellence: Capital Region and Greater New York (gold), Buffalo/Niagara and Greater Atlanta (silver) and Greater Cleveland (bronze).

More information on Postal Customer Councils and National PCC Day can be found at usps.com/nationalpcc.

WASHINGTON, DC —Postmaster General John E. Potter has named Pritha Mehra vice president of Business Mail Entry and Payment Technologies and Maura Robinson vice president of Pricing. These newly created positions are the latest in the Postal Service’s reorganization efforts to leverage competitive opportunities resulting from recent changes in federal law.

On July 1, Potter announced that he had created two new divisions, Shipping and Mailing Services and Customer Relations, and strengthened another, the Office of Intelligent Mail® and Address Quality. All are intended to position the Postal Service to meet the challenges ahead.

Mehra will be responsible for an end-to-end, mail flow visibility strategy as well as for a seamless process for mail acceptance, payment, and delivery using standardized Intelligent Mail barcodes, continuous tracking, and mail-quality feedback in real time. She will report to Tom Day, senior vice president of Intelligent Mail and Address Quality.

Robinson’s duties will include pricing all postal and non-postal products and services, and providing analytical support and evaluation of all contract pricing and new product initiatives. She will report to Stephen Kearney, who was recently promoted to senior vice president of Customer Relations. Kearney served previously as vice president of Pricing and Classification.

“Pritha and Maura have both demonstrated their abilities to identify and understand the needs of our customers in a changing environment,” said Potter. “Their leadership skills will be invaluable as we continue to make the strategic changes necessary to help us improve service and increase market share.”

In her previous position, Mehra served as manager of Marketing Technology and Channel Management, where she led significant technological changes in business mail acceptance processes. She began her Postal Service career in 1990 as a computer programmer.

Formerly, Robinson was manager of Pricing Systems and Analysis, where she was instrumental in management of the Postal Service’s price changes and the transition to a new regulatory environment. She began her Postal Service career in 1998 as an economist.

From the Alliance of NonProfit Mailers Breaking News page:

Postal Service executives from across the nation are traveling to Orlando, FL today to attend the Postal Service’s 2006 National Executive Conference. The top several hundred postal executives will meet all day Wednesday and half the day Thursday to hear Postmaster General Jack Potter and other postal leaders discuss the successes of 2006 and the challenges of the future. Once known as a rather lavish and festive gathering for postal executives, the executive conferences conducted by PMG Potter are more business and less play. Beyond the full day business agenda, the conference is a good opportunity for executives to network and match notes with their peers.

In a sternly worded editorial, the Federal Times last week called on Postmaster General Jack Potter to take action against disgraced former executive Azeezaly Jaffer, or make way for “a new leadership team”. The paper points out that “Jaffer’s alleged improprieties were known and apparently tacitly accepted for years before he finally resigned in June”.

The editorial, published in the August 21 print edition of the paper, asserts that “What has been sorely absent here is basic leadership from Postmaster General John Potter”, that both the PMG and the Office of Inspector General “failed to take allegations against Jaffer seriously when they first surfaced, and he failed to ensure that the proper controls were in place to prevent the kind of wasteful spending exemplified in the IG report”.

The piece concludes: “Potter and the leadership of the Postal Service have a choice to make now. The IG report documents a strong case, depicting a public official who ran amok with his official credit card, sexually harassed fellow employees and abused his trusted position. If Potter doesn’t think that merits criminal or other punitive action, perhaps it is time for a new leadership team to take charge of the U.S. Postal Service.”