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Eroding Mail Volumes

Electronic alternatives, particularly bill presentment and payment, pose a definite and substantial risk to First-Class Mail volume and revenue within the next 5-10 years. This could, in turn, have a negative impact on First-Class Mail rates.

Rising Costs

Despite major gains in efficiency and productivity through automation, the costs of maintaining an ever-expanding postal network are increasing, especially costs outside the direct control of the Postal Service, such as retirement and health benefit liabilities.

Fixed Costs

Universal service requires a significant infrastructure to deliver postal services. Almost half of current Postal Service costs are spent on these resources, and that level does not change when volume or productivity increases or decreases. This makes cost containment most challenging.

Merging of Public and Private Operators into Global Networks

Former national foreign postal services, some privatized, have entered the U.S. domestic market.

Increasing Security Concerns

Rising security concerns require sophisticated countermeasures.

Are these factors still relevant? Which ones are relevant and which are not? Are some more important than others? Is the rate of change for each factor increasing or decreasing? Are there other factors that warrant consideration? What are they? In developing the Strategic Transformation Plan 2006–2010, the Postal Service would like to receive stakeholders' views and comments on these and other long-term external changes, issues, and trends.

The Postal Service also invites comment on its long-range organizational goals, or objectives, published most recently in the Preliminary Annual Performance Plan for 2005 as part of the FY 2004 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations. The Postal Service has employed long-range goals, or objectives, as part of a strategic planning process for over two decades, along with systematic performance assessments. The Postal Service has developed a disciplined process to establish goals, objectives, indicators, and targets; assign resources to programs that support achievement of the targets; implement the programs; and review performance. Stakeholder input will also support and enhance the performance process.

The United States Postal Service maintains a Web page dedicated to soliciting comments on its Strategic Transformation Plan 2006–2010: http://www.usps.com/strategicplanning/2006-2010.htm. Stakeholders are requested to review this Web site, and may submit emails or send written comments. Interested parties are encouraged to complete the survey presented on the Web page, and, if desired, respond to the following questions included on the survey:

• If there were one change you could write into Transformation 2006–2010 for the Postal Service, what would it be?
• What is most important to your organization in the next five years, and how can the Postal Service best help you?
• What should the Postal Service look like in five years? What are the most important changes that should be made?