There are people in our industry who have made a life's work studying and attempting to understand why the U.S. Postal Service does what it does. Some have expressed disappointment that few at the USPS have ever tried to learn much about the reasons direct mail advertisers and marketers do what they do.
As true as this may be, you can't fault the postal service for not creating occasions for fruitful exchanges with our industry. Besides the connections made through dozens of Postal Customer Councils nationwide, the USPS meets quarterly with mail industry reps through the Postmaster General's Mailers Technical Advisory Committee. Add to that two National Postal Forums that are held each year, and you've got to admit that at least the opportunity for dialogue is there.
We're often critical whenever the postal service seems to turn us a deaf ear, but when was the last time you heard that United Parcel Service, FedEx, DHL or any other parcel deliverer would host a get-together to listen to their customers?
I'm sure there's a temptation to believe the “rigors of the marketplace” are more than enough to motivate private carriers to tend to our needs. But who ever said that marketplace rigor alone was sufficient to give them any special insight into our industry's changing needs? Think about it and I'm sure you'll be able to come up with more than one instance when your non-postal parcel deliverer seemed to take your business for granted.
But whose fault is this? When was the last time DMers demanded that their private postal counterparts make themselves available to hear the industry's perspective? Can you ever recall your local DM club setting aside time on its annual program to create some suitable forum for information exchange? And when we think about the non-postal parcel shippers of the world, do we think of them as “partners for progress” (as we claim to do with the USPS) or do we consider them postal pariahs who are only interested in milking us for every dollar?
Maybe it's time we give this issue more than just passing consideration. If we're unhappy with the service and prices we get from our “partners,” maybe we should expend a little effort to make sure they hear what we have to say.
GENE A. DEL POLITO is president of the Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom) in Arlington, VA.
