Wanted — your vision, your voice: VOE surveys are in the mail

Hey, you. Got something to say? Here's your chance to say it loud and clear. The quarter 4 Voice of the Employee (VOE) survey has been mailed.

The survey is quick, easy and you can do it on the clock. Your feedback is critical to the Postal Service'sTM continued success. Every career employee has an opportunity to take the survey once during the year. So if you haven't gotten one so far, it's your turn to participate.

If you receive one this time around, take the time to fill it out. It only takes about 15 minutes. When it's completed, you can return it to your survey administrator or mail it back yourself in the envelope provided.

Be sure to have your survey in the mail in time to make the Aug. 31 deadline.

Tag. You're It! Carrier Pickup Tag Team Tagline Contest

The Carrier Pickup Online Notification contest is open now through Aug. 18. Go to LiteBlue (liteblue.usps.gov) and submit your best tagline - one that will make customers want to be part of the Carrier PickupTM tag team.

We're looking for taglines of 15 words or less that promote Carrier Pickup service with creativity, humor and an upbeat theme with wide audience appeal.

You'll have a chance to help choose the best tagline via online voting, Sept. 6-15. Results will be combined with input from an expert panel of judges.

Link and LiteBlue will announce 30 finalists in September. One grand prize winner announced Sept. 26 will receive an Apple iPod Shuffle, plus the finalist prize - a USPS® prize pack of stamp art and other Postal Service items.

Go to LiteBlue to enter by Aug. 18. Have your employee ID and USPS PIN ready. If you don't know your PIN, visit PostalEASE online or call PostalEASE at 877-4PS-EASE (877-477-3273).

All about the customer: Strategic Transformation Plan 2006—2010 introduced

It's a competitive world out there and our customers have more choices than ever. So we have to make sure that mail delivers for them - better than it ever has.

That's what transformation is all about - changing to meet the changing needs and demands of our customers. We're more focused than ever on service. Record customer satisfaction scores tell us they appreciate that. At the same time, we're more efficient than ever. That helps keep costs down and customers coming back.

Combine the three - service, satisfaction and price - and they add up to value. Making mail work harder for customers and making it easier than ever for them to do business with us only increases that value. With 700,000 employees focused on performance, the Postal Service has an edge no one else can match.

Look for the new Strategic Transformation Plan 2006-2010 by the end of September. We're still working out the details, but you can be sure of one thing - it's all about the customer.

A gem of a guarantee: Global expedited service enhanced in Pacific Rim

Bright lights, big stars: "We Deliver for You" is Walk of Fame nominee

Letter carriers know that when it rains, it pours. Retail associates will sell no stamp before its time. Our customers will even tell you that a day without the Postal Service is like a day without sunshine.

And now, Madison Avenue thinks that our "We Deliver for You" slogan is worthy of its Walk of Fame. That's why the slogan has been nominated as one of 26 to compete in the 2005 Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame.

You deserve a break today - go to the site, click on "Slogan" and vote for "We deliver for you." Vote now through Sept. 23 at http://advertising.yahoo.com/advertisingweek_05/.

Value of the work: USPS, a "Best place to work" for IT professionals

USPS has made Computerworld's list of the "100 Best Places to Work in IT" for the second year in a row.

About a quarter of the 1,200 IT employees at USPS completed a 100-question survey and rated the Postal Service on things such as salary and bonus increases, promotions, staff turnovers, training and development, percentages of women and minorities on staff, rewarding outstanding performance, retention programs and benefits.

USPS moved up in the rankings - placing 65th on the list of 100 companies. Last year it was 93rd on the list.

Go to www.computerworld.com for more information on its survey.

USPS communications plan recognized as one of "Top 100 Case Studies in PR"

A leading public relations magazine, PR News, includes a USPS communications plan in the 2005 edition of its book, Top 100 Case Studies in PR.

The book includes the communications plan related to the anthrax attacks of 2001, created to protect USPS employees and restore public confidence in the U.S. Mail®. And, the case study says the plan did just that.

"After deploying its crisis communications plan," the book states, "the Postal Service now has a better reputation than it did before the term `powdery substance' took on a whole new meaning."

Finding future leaders: Corporate Succession Planning open season, Sept. 6–Oct. 14

See yourself being postmaster general one day? How about chief marketing officer or district manager? Any officer or PCES executive will tell you it takes planning, development and goal setting to achieve that level of success - but it is achievable.

Programs like Corporate Succession Planning (CSP), the Web-based leadership development tool for PCES and EAS-22 and above employees, can help you advance your USPS career.

To learn more, go to the Postal Service Intranet at blue.usps.gov. Under "Hot Topics," click on Corporate Succession Planning.

Open season for CSP is Sept. 6-Oct. 14. After that, you'll have to wait until 2007. Don't miss out!