EMPLOYEE FOCUS--REGISTERING HOPE

A LOOK AT THE USPS MARROW DONOR PROGRAM


Huntington Beach, CA, Letter Carrier Hung Chung.

Every year, more than 10,000 adults and children are diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma, sickle–cell or other life–threatening diseases for which a marrow transplant is their only hope for a cure.


The Postal Service’s Delivering the Gift of Life campaign offers help. Since 1997, the campaign has made it possible for postal employees, their spouses or dependent family members 18 years of age and older to help.


Donors registered in the Delivering the Gift of Life campaign are added to the national “Be The Match Registry” where, on any given day, more than 6,000 people search for potential donors.

The registry, containing more than 7 million names, has made possible thousands of transplants — yet fewer than 10 percent of those have helped African American or other minority patients because suitable donors were unavailable.






The Delivering the Gift of Life program is managed by the Postal Service’s Community Relations team. Coordinator Deborah Mobley says one of the reasons USPS is involved is because of its large, diverse workforce. “There is special need to increase diversity on the registry because patients are most likely to match donors of the same race and ethnicity,” said Mobley. “Ninety–four percent of minorities in need of a marrow transplant will not get one.”


More than 50,000 postal employees and their family members, including 25,000 racial and ethnic minority donors, are enrolled in Delivering the Gift of Life.

To date, 80 Delivering the Gift of Life recruits have gone on to donate, including Huntington Beach, CA, Letter Carrier Hung Chung.


Chung enrolled in 2002. Seven years later, he got notice he was a match for a 16–year–old in need of a transplant. “I felt like I won the Super Lotto,” said Chung. He said he hopes to someday meet the girl.

Testing is required to donate marrow. A grant from the Postal Service covers the cost of type–testing employees and eligible family members.

Be The Match Foundation in 2009 honored the Postal Service with its first “Rod Carew Award for Leadership” for having saved more lives through marrow donation than any other business organization in the nation.


Employees interested in becoming a donor or who would like more information about the program can send an e–mail to marrowcampaign@usps.gov. For more information about the Be The Match registry or foundation, go to bethematch.org

from usps news link-editor-mr.robert anderson

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BOSTON NEGRO LEAGUES

Northeastern University last week hosted an unveiling of the Negro Leagues Baseball Stamps at its John D. O’Bryant Center for African American Studies. The event paid tribute to early African–American baseball players and their contributions to the nation’s culture and history.

Featured speakers included Dr. Raymond Doswell, representing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum; Andrea Martinez of the Boston Foundation; Susan Goodenow, senior VP, Public Affairs and Marketing, Boston Red Sox; and James Holland, Postmaster of Boston and Northeastern University graduate.

The Boston Red Sox also was represented by former players Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd and Sam Horn.


from usps news link-editor mr.robert anderson

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IS USPS A BUSINESS?

MANAGING COSTS IN A PERFECT STORM



Throughout the past decade, the Postal Service has steadily cut costs from its budget. Now, recession–driven revenue declines, ongoing mail volume reductions caused by Internet diversion and a crippling requirement to pre–fund retiree health benefits have combined to cause a “perfect storm” and focus more attention on the priority to reduce spending.

Cost-cutting is not new to USPS. In the last 10 years, the Postal Service has stripped more than $20 billion in costs. Cumulative savings over that period total $50 billion, with $6 billion in cost savings in fiscal year 2009 alone.


Compared to 10 years ago, 200,000 fewer career employees deliver mail to more than 15 million additional addresses and PO Boxes. USPS has achieved this workforce reduction largely through attrition and without sacrificing service.

The Postal Service has invested in tools and technologies to make its operations more efficient — in mail preparation, processing, delivery and retail, and transportation. Advanced technologies have revolutionized the way mail is sorted. Ten years ago, mail carriers spent 4 hours sorting mail and 4 hours delivering. Now they spend less time in the office before starting their routes, because automation sorts letters in delivery order at processing plants.

USPS has negotiated agreements with unions, providing management flexibility to align the workforce with changing operational processes and workloads. And agreements with suppliers have been renegotiated to obtain more favorable terms. Non-essential programs and projects, as well as certain construction projects, are no longer budget items.

The Postal Service began the decade using internal benchmarking and standards to increase operational efficiency. Today, USPS also has adopted Lean Six Sigma tools to simplify and streamline processes, document best practices and spread success throughout the organization.


Finally, the Postal Service has adopted a performance-based compensation system. Pay increases for managers based on time in grade have been eliminated. The new system features a balanced scorecard to set and manage objectives and a national performance assessment to measure and recognize results.
MANAGING COSTS IN A PERFECT STORM




Throughout the past decade, the Postal Service has steadily cut costs from its budget. Now, recession–driven revenue declines, ongoing mail volume reductions caused by Internet diversion and a crippling requirement to pre–fund retiree health benefits have combined to cause a “perfect storm” and focus more attention on the priority to reduce spending.



Cost-cutting is not new to USPS. In the last 10 years, the Postal Service has stripped more than $20 billion in costs. Cumulative savings over that period total $50 billion, with $6 billion in cost savings in fiscal year 2009 alone.



Compared to 10 years ago, 200,000 fewer career employees deliver mail to more than 15 million additional addresses and PO Boxes. USPS has achieved this workforce reduction largely through attrition and without sacrificing service.



The Postal Service has invested in tools and technologies to make its operations more efficient — in mail preparation, processing, delivery and retail, and transportation. Advanced technologies have revolutionized the way mail is sorted. Ten years ago, mail carriers spent 4 hours sorting mail and 4 hours delivering. Now they spend less time in the office before starting their routes, because automation sorts letters in delivery order at processing plants.



USPS has negotiated agreements with unions, providing management flexibility to align the workforce with changing operational processes and workloads. And agreements with suppliers have been renegotiated to obtain more favorable terms. Non-essential programs and projects, as well as certain construction projects, are no longer budget items.



The Postal Service began the decade using internal benchmarking and standards to increase operational efficiency. Today, USPS also has adopted Lean Six Sigma tools to simplify and streamline processes, document best practices and spread success throughout the organization.



Finally, the Postal Service has adopted a performance-based compensation system. Pay increases for managers based on time in grade have been eliminated. The new system features a balanced scorecard to set and manage objectives and a national performance assessment to measure and recognize results.

from usps news link-editor-mr.robert anderson

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TOP STORY--HAPPY CUSTOMERS PROMOTE USPS

CUSTOMER CONTACT DRIVES ‘LIKELIHOOD TO RECOMMEND’

Early results from the new Customer Experience Measurement (CEM) tool reveal that contact experience — the quality of the relationship USPS develops with customers — offers the most significant opportunity for not only improving satisfaction, but also increasing the likelihood customers will recommend the Postal Service to others.

“During contact with a customer, no matter what the reason, make sure they feel valued,” advises Vice President and Consumer Advocate Delores Killette. She adds that reaching out to customers by creating a dialog helps create a positive contact experience that leads more customers to recommend USPS. “An engaged customer is more than satisfied and is more likely to recommend the Postal Service to others,” she says.


CEM data shows other, more subtle aspects of the contact experience also are important. For example, the perceived efficiency of retail associates has a more direct effect on customers’ likelihood to recommend than the actual length of the time they wait in line.


“The customer who has to wait in line but believes the clerks are working as efficiently as possible is more positive about USPS than a customer waiting a shorter length of time who believes the clerk is inefficient or wasting time,” said Killette.

Demonstrating value to the customer by exceeding expectations and creating opportunities for repeat business is another way to gain customer trust. “Once a bond based on service or a relationship with an employee has been established, a customer may think it’s simply not logical to go anywhere else,” says Killette.

Responsiveness to customer questions, comments and complaints also is important. If a complaint is quickly and efficiently resolved, the likelihood to recommend USPS is greater. “Listen to customer feedback,” says Killette. “Trust the customer to tell you what the problem is, and then take steps to fix it.”

from usps news link-editor-mr.robert anderson

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TREASURER EXTRAORDINAIRE

PEDERSEN NAMED ONE OF THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN FINANCE

Treasurer Robert Pedersen.

Treasurer Robert Pedersen, who last month was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Finance by Treasury & Risk magazine, now is featured on the magazine’s website.

Pedersen began his career at USPS as an investment officer in 1983 and was named treasurer in 2002.

His postal accomplishments include an award-winning cash consolidation project that was the first of its kind in the treasury profession, and saved USPS $3 million in cash management fees.


Through use of automation, Pedersen also drastically cut the number of people and amount of time needed to do research and reporting — taking work formerly done by 90 people over 90 days, as part of their overall function, and consolidating it into a group of three employees who could complete the work in 3 days.

He also has boosted USPS treasury efficiencies and cut costs by creating a centralized and standardized nationwide system of depository services. Pedersen’s system reduced the number of Postal Service depository banks to 15 banks, with the top five handling 73 percent of deposits. (As recently as the 1990s, the Postal Service used approximately 5,000 depository banks.) Pedersen also reduced the number of armored couriers from 13 to 8, with the top 4 covering 99 percent of USPS service needs.

The system, implemented in February 2009, also involved big changes for the organization — changes Pedersen says he knew would be tough to implement without the blessing of the rest of the organization.

Pedersen was undaunted by the challenge. In early 2007, his team gathered about 30 Postal Service executives from throughout USPS, presented the plan, and asked about any reservations or concerns.


“There was some really good healthy skepticism,” he said. “But from my standpoint, I welcomed that.”

Pedersen credits the meeting with helping him develop a system that “met everybody’s needs.”

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DELIVERING THE COUNT

DELIVERING THE COUNT


USPS EARNS PRAISE FOR EFFORTS SUPPORTING 2010 CENSUS

The Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) proved its worth during the 2010 Decennial Census, saving the Census Bureau millions of dollars and providing data the Postal Service could use to plan and schedule cost-effective handling and transportation of Census mailings.

For the Postal Service, its primary role in the 2010 Decennial Census consisted of delivering six mailings totaling some 420 million mailpieces to households and handling approximately 90 million return mailpieces.

The six mailings included a Selected Advance Notification (10 million), Advance Notification (119 million), Survey Questionnaires (119 million), Reminder Postcards (138 million), Blanket Survey Questionnaires (25 million) and Target Survey Questionnaires (9.9 million).

The IMb was used with the first four mailings, with performance data provided to the Census Bureau to help it effectively target and manage the last two mailings. This Full Service IMb data provided valuable information to Census and USPS, allowing both agencies to increase efficiencies and reduce costs. Although the Census effort is ongoing, the major thrust of the mailings and responses has concluded.

There was “simply no way” the Commerce Department could have completed the program on its own, said Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, whose department oversees the Census Bureau.

“The mail response rate was much higher than anyone thought possible,” said Locke, who applauded the Postal Service for its support and help to bring the program in under budget.

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