USPS 5 Day Delivery Survey

The U.S. Postal Service and the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) are co-sponsoring an industry survey regarding 5-Day Delivery. As a subscriber to our newsletter, we are asking for your participation.

Background information is as follows:

Despite very aggressive cost cutting, the Postal Service is projecting financial losses for this and the next several years. This is due to a significant decline in mail volume and a major requirement to prefund its retiree health benefits. The Postal Service is committed to fulfilling its fundamental role as a deliverer of mail and packages to all Americans. To accomplish this, the Postal Service is developing a plan to transition from six- to five-day delivery on a national basis. This will remove delivery costs and help bring the financial picture into better balance. The alternative would be large price increases.

The Postal Service would like your opinion, as a business customer, about this plan to transition from six- to five-day delivery. Key components of the five-day delivery plan are contained in the survey itself.

The online tool is called SurveyMonkey and should only take about five minutes to complete. Responses will be kept confidential.

One of the questions on the survey is your association affiliation to MTAC. If you do not belong to any of the listed associations please leave blank.

Mailers Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) are co-sponsoring an industry survey regarding 5-Day Delivery. We are asking for your participation.

Key points:

The purpose of this survey should be considered critically important in determining the very near term future of the U.S. Postal Service and the mailing industry.

1. Detailed instructions are included within the survey itself.
2. They are looking for as many responses as possible from all types of customers within all industries.
3. Although the survey should take little time to complete, if interrupted, respondents may exit the survey and return at a future time to complete it. Completing the survey and submitting it is critically important.
4. Once a respondent has clicked on the “Done” button on the last page they may not make any additional changes.
5. Responses are requested by Friday, September 11, 2009.

Thanks in advance for your participation.

Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/MTAC5D

Potter Seeks ‘Fundamental Restructuring’ Of Postal Laws

(from liteblue.usps.gov)

PMG Jack Potter today testified before a Senate panel responsible for USPS oversight, stressing the need for a “fundamental restructuring” of the Postal Service’s legislative and regulatory framework. He said such changes are “critical to future growth” of the organization.

Potter said the Postal Service supports efforts on Capitol Hill to approve S. 1507, a Senate bill aimed at providing fiscal relief by restructuring the payment schedule USPS is required to make to the Retiree Health Benefits Fund. The proposal does not affect the fund’s obligations to retired postal employees.

Potter also noted the Postal Service supports portions of the bill that require an arbitrator to consider the agency’s financial health in a binding arbitration settlement and another provision that accelerates the completion of a report by the General Accountability Office on the current USPS business model. “This will initiate a necessary and broader debate about the manner in which the Postal Service can continue to serve the American public,” he said.

“The issue is not the mail,” Potter said as he concluded his testimony, adding USPS needs additional flexibility to meet changing mail patterns and a shifting business environment.

“Together, we must identify a new business model,” said Potter. “We must close the huge gap between our revenues and our costs.”

Click here to read Potter’s formal testimony.

Sen. Carper Introduces Bill To Ease Financial Strain On The Post Office

(from Bette Phelan, 202-224-2441)

WASHINGTON – Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) today introduced legislation to help address the dire financial situation facing the United States Postal Service. Sen. Carper, as chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees the postal service, has been closely monitoring its deteriorating financial condition and has been seeking way to keep the mail flowing.

“The economic slowdown and the ever-growing electronic diversion of the mail have put a serious strain on our nation’s Postal Service,” said Sen. Carper. “We in Congress must provide some way to help preserve the vital services post offices provide for American families and businesses.”
Recently, Postmaster General Jack Potter and Postal Service Board of Governors Chairman Carolyn Gallagher notified Congress and officials at the Treasury Department that the Postal Service will not make its $5.4 billion retiree health, pre-funding payment by September 30, as required by law.
That is why Sen. Carper introduced his “Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Funding Reform Act of 2009” to restructure the postal service’s retiree health payment schedule to produce significant cost savings over the next several years. The Carper bill also gives the postal service more borrowing authority to meet its financial obligations and get through this current fiscal year and next.

“This bill will put the Postal Service on more sound financial footing as we approach the crucial holiday shopping season. I am confident that with the changes called for in my bill, the Postal Service can continue to provide the quality service we all depend on,” said Sen. Carper. “But this bill is not a silver bullet that will fix everything wrong with the Postal Service. Its management also needs to find ways to attract new business and further streamline operations. And, Congress and postal employees need to continue to work closely with management to keep the Postal Service running smoothly and reliably.”

The Postal Service expects mail volume to be roughly 175 billion pieces this fiscal year, a decline of 38 billion pieces since 2007. The Postal Service is also projecting a loss of $7.1 billion in FY2009 despite its success in working toward $6.1 billion in cost cutting in one year.

Sen. Carper hopes this bill will be enacted into law before Congress adjourns in August.