If you haven't read the U.S. Postal Service's 2006-2010 Strategic Transformation Plan, you should. It will provide as clear and concise a guide to what the USPS intends to do over the next five years — with or without postal legislative reform.
The report sets forth a general framework for alterations in operations and services that mailers can expect to see in the short term. It provides enough information about products, mail preparation regulations, addressing requirements and networks to put mail users on notice that the postal world is about to change. Part of that will involve new rules aimed at ensuring the cost-efficient and productive use of mail in business.
This plan didn't develop in a vacuum; it reflects considerable input the USPS has received from customers over the past five years. It envisions the smaller, inflation-bound changes called for by mailers and postal reform proposals. It emphasizes greater use of information technology to improve the cost-efficiency and productivity of postal operations and boost the value of services. It takes adequate note of the need to modernize, improve mail flow and maximize the shared work that direct marketers provide in the preparation and distribution of their mail.
The postal service acknowledges the challenges it faces in supporting a delivery system with core products that have changed and will continue to change over time. Many financial transactions will be handled by other means, and more will have to be done to make the case for mail as a compelling business proposition.
A few of these new wrinkles may meet resistance from the private sector. One example that immediately comes to mind is the USPS' emphasis on what it calls value-based pricing. To some, this sounds like postal-speak for raising prices on products that have already been enhanced by DMers' efforts.
Then again, can you think of any business in America that doesn't try to maximize gains by capitalizing on whatever real or perceived value it offers customers?
GENE A. DEL POLITO is president of the Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom) in Arlington, VA.
