GROWING SALES, GROWING VOLUME

GROWING SALES, GROWING VOLUME

APPLICANTS FOR 2010 SUMMER SALE UP FROM LAST YEAR

Bob Daberkow is vice president of a Florida-based fulfillment and catalog company. He’s also a fan of the Postal Service’s Summer Sale.

His company participated in the 2009 event, and he’s applied to participate in this year’s event. The application deadline was May 28.

Daberkow said the postage rebate program encouraged him to mail his catalogs to a number of lists he might otherwise have ignored. He also said the 2010 Summer Sale “will lead us to expand our mailing efforts on all four of our brands in an effort to grow our businesses again this year.”

Daberkow is just one example why the number of applicants to this year’s Summer Sale has grown. Applicants in 2009 numbered 1,200. This year, 1,478 mailers applied.

The 2010 event is scheduled to run July 1 to Sept. 30. The incentive program offers a 30 percent rebate to eligible mailers for Standard Mail letters and flats volume above a predetermined threshold — 5 percent over each mailer’s volume for the same period in 2009.

To be eligible to participate, a company must have mailed at least 350,000 Standard Mail letters or flats between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2009.

USPS currently is reviewing the applications to make sure mailers meet the requirements to participate. The Postal Service expects the program to generate up to 1 billion new mailpieces during the sale period.

The 2010 Summer Sale is a component of a broader pricing strategy that creates incentives to grow and retain mail volume.

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SAFETY EXEMPLIFIED--accumulated about a million miles without an at-fault accident

Monroe, NC, Rural Carrier Deloris “Dee” Hash and Mid-Carolinas District Manager Dave Fields.

SAFETY EXEMPLIFIED. For 32 years, Deloris “Dee” Hash has accumulated about a million miles without an at-fault accident — a feat that recently earned her a Million Mile Award.

Mid-Carolinas District Manager Dave Fields presented Hash with her Million Mile Award plaque and pin, as well as a letter acknowledging her accomplishment. Fields told Hash that her award placed her in an elite group of employees.

“You are the seventh recipient this fiscal year, out of more than 5,000 employees who drive for us each day,” said Fields. “You should certainly be proud that you have served our customers every day and returned home to your family safely each night.”

Hash said she was surprised when Monroe Postmaster Curtis Pawl called her forward for the presentation. “I saw my children and my husband, but I had no idea,” she said.

Hash also will be considered for a national safe driver of the year award.

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NEW SALES LEAD

BUSINESS FOCUS

NEW SALES LEAD

HERNANDEZ NAMED ACTING VP

Acting Vice President, Sales, Steven Hernandez.

Acting President, Mailing and Shipping Services, Susan Plonkey has announced Steven Hernandez will become acting vice president, Sales.

“Steven brings more than 22 years of management experience to his new position, including a strong record of achievement in sales, marketing, and customer service in both field and headquarters assignments,” said Plonkey.

Hernandez most recently served as Postmaster in San Antonio and Austin. Previously, he was manager, Marketing Strategy and Support, reporting directly to the chief marketing officer. Prior to that, he held sales management positions of increasing responsibility in the Southwest Area. He also served as an associate vice president of Sales at headquarters.

A 2004 Postal Service Sloan Fellow, Hernandez earned a Masters in Management Science at Stanford University. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from Purdue University and a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas.

Hernandez began his postal career in 1984 as a letter carrier in Austin.

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STAMPS NOW

TOP STORY

STAMPS NOW

STAMP FULFILLMENT SERVICES CONTRIBUTES TO BOTTOM LINE

The underground entrance to Stamp Fulfillment Services in Kansas City, MO.

It began in the 1960s as a small office at headquarters, fulfilling stamp orders for collectors.

Philatelists still are a market for Stamp Fulfillment Services (SFS). But the organization’s marketing and sales horizons have dramatically expanded. Today, SFS is a major and still-growing enterprise, with a global customer base of 3.6 million customers — including many Postmasters.

SFS maintains an inventory of 4,500 stamps and philatelic products worth $400 million to $700 million. The entire inventory is stored in the “Subtropolis,” a 326,000-square-foot facility housed in a limestone cave beneath Kansas City, MO.

Why the cave? It’s secure and offers excellent climate control features.

During the 28 years SFS has been headquartered in Kansas City, it has become a significant sales channel for the Postal Service. SFS Manager Khalid Hussain says revenue from his operation is growing each year. “Projected income for the current fiscal year is $495 million, more than double the revenue of six years ago,” he says.

SFS deals directly with a growing and increasingly diverse public. Eight years ago, the organization sold its products to nine customer categories. Today, SFS sells to 26 distinct customer categories, ranging from government agencies to non-postal national and international resellers, eBay buyers and every customer who purchases stamps on usps.com.

Through the years, SFS has relied on technology and excellent customer care to meet growing demand. More about that in a futureLink story.

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BY THE NUMBERS---DO YOU READ NEWS PAPER...?

READ ALL OVER — NOT SO MUCH. 
According to a recent survey by Adweek Media and Harris, 43 percent of all adult Americans say they read a daily newspaper almost every day. Just over seven in 10 Americans say they read a daily paper — online or print  — at least once a week, and 81 percent read a daily newspaper at least once a month. According to the survey, one in 10 adults never read a daily newspaper.

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AT 95, STILL DRIVING AND MAILING....

STILL DRIVING AND MAILING. Ninety-five-year-old Patrina Behrman is a regular at the Silver Creek, NY, Post Office. She drives there daily to mail important items, like her Publisher’s Clearing House entry — a contest she’s certain she’ll win someday.

But in a few weeks, her friends at the Post Office will have to direct the prize van to Iowa. Behrman is moving there to live with her son. “We’ll miss her,” said Postmaster Stephen Cooley. “She’s a mainstay of our Post Office, our most faithful customer. It’s one change of address we’re saddened to submit.”

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