Conclusion
This update to the Strategic Transformation Plan comes one year after passage of the Postal Act of 2006. During this time, the Postal Service, the Postal Regulatory Commission, and postal stakeholders have been adapting to the changes prescribed by the law. Much work has been completed and more remains to be done. The Postal Service will continue to respond proactively to all requirements of the law, working closely with the mailing industry in the same spirit of collaboration that has characterized its efforts to date.
In the meantime, the Postal Service continues to process and deliver the nation‘ mail – 212 billion pieces in 2007. Creating more value for customers and delivering excellent service remain at the core of all postal strategies. The Postal Service continues to make its products and services more convenient and accessible. In the coming year, it will begin to take advantage of new flexibility to tailor prices and features to the needs of specific customer segments. Generating new business — profitable new business — is more important than ever, now that price increases for most classes are capped at the rate of inflation.
Efforts to increase productivity continue to rely on automation, process improvement, and standardization. The Postal Service has realized enormous benefits to date, but much opportunity remains. Deployment of the Flats Sequencing System, which begins this year, will usher in a new wave of productivity gains. At the same time, more comprehensive mail flow data and optimization tools will guide management efforts toward greater efficiency and more streamlined processes. The Postal Service continues to target removal of $1 billion in costs per year.
Intelligent Mail is moving from a promising concept to a powerful reality, rapidly leading to the time when mail will be trackable at all points in the system. It is creating a radical new level of visibility, one that will fundamentally change how customers use the mail, and certainly add value and utility. Postal managers will benefit from a much-improved ability to use data to eliminate sorting errors, transportation failures, and incorrect mailing addresses.
Postal employees are making great strides meeting the challenges of a changing market. None of the advances in recent years would have happened without their efforts. They are the heart of the Postal Service brand and the key to transitioning to an organizational culture dedicated to satisfying customers. Agreements are now in place between the Postal Service and its unions and management associations. All employees can focus on the task at hand — improving the quality, consistency, and competitiveness of the services they deliver every day.
The Postal Service is part of every American community. Each day, tens of thousands of Post Offices open for business; postal vehicles drive along countless neighborhood streets, and a quarter-million carriers drop off the day‘s mail and collect outgoing packages. With its size and reach, the Postal Service is uniquely positioned to take a leadership role in conserving resources and helping customers conserve as well. Already recognized as an innovator in several areas, the Postal Service will expand its use of recyclable materials, continue research into alternative-fuel technologies, and use sustainable facility and equipment designs to cut energy use. However, the Postal Service‘s most important and immediate role is to lead industry efforts to improve the quality of mail and mailing lists. With so many tools available to update addresses and lists, there is no justification for continuing to absorb the waste of processing millions of pieces of undeliverable-as-addressed mail each year.
In 2008, the Postal Service will develop an entirely new strategic vision, with new strategies and objectives designed to recast the mail for tomorrow‘s market. Ideas are welcomed and encouraged — from customers, employees, industry partners, and anyone with an interest in sustaining the mail. Comments may be addressed to transformation@usps.gov, or to Office of Strategic Planning, U.S. Postal Service Headquarters, 475 L‘Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington DC 20260-5126.