Think about it. USPS
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One of the most memorable exchanges at the hearings held before the President's Commission on the Postal Service was one involving Postmaster General Jack Potter. He'd been asked by one of the commissioners about his plans to expand postal markets. Potter responded by saying rather candidly that the USPS really only had one thing it could market - its rate card. By this the PMG meant that as a closely regulated monopoly, the essence of the postal service's markets and services was defined by the Domestic Mail Classification Schedule (DMCS) and the postal rates derived from it.
While others wondered why the PMG didn't answer differently, the fact is that he was correct. The postal service indeed does define its products from the DMCS - a schedule that's partly within its control and partly under the sway of the Postal Rate Commission.
Nevertheless, if a rate schedule is all you've got, then the rate schedule should be where you put your time and energy to bring about new product offerings and improvements. The trouble is that this requires a little creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. Unfortunately, both seem to be in short supply over at the USPS these days.
Mail is still, and for the foreseeable future is likely to remain, an important vehicle for business development and commerce. To stay attractive to its likely users, though, the postal service has to do a major overhaul of its schedule of products and services. Mailers' needs have changed. Postal products haven't. Nor has the postal service's perception of why mailers use mail or what is likely to encourage them to continue doing so in the future.
The USPS likes to restrict its thinking within the bounds of its four walls. If it lets anyone in, access is limited to those "consultants" who have learned that the best way to win the next postal contract is to tell the postal service what it wants to hear rather than what it needs to hear. Consequently, when the USPS sequesters itself to think of something new, at best it manages to serve up the "same old, same old," or, at worst, comes up with some new approach that ultimately will dissuade businesses from using the mail. It's time for the postal service to give product redesign some fresh thought. If it doesn't, there might not be much product worth thinking about.
Print Official USPS postage using your PC at home. Free trial worth $80 available.
GENE A. DEL POLITO is president of the Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom) in Arlington, VA.
COPYRIGHT 2004 PRIMEDIA Business Magazines & Media Inc. All rights reserved.COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
One of the most memorable exchanges at the hearings held before the President's Commission on the Postal Service was one involving Postmaster General Jack Potter. He'd been asked by one of the commissioners about his plans to expand postal markets. Potter responded by saying rather candidly that the USPS really only had one thing it could market - its rate card. By this the PMG meant that as a closely regulated monopoly, the essence of the postal service's markets and services was defined by the Domestic Mail Classification Schedule (DMCS) and the postal rates derived from it.
While others wondered why the PMG didn't answer differently, the fact is that he was correct. The postal service indeed does define its products from the DMCS - a schedule that's partly within its control and partly under the sway of the Postal Rate Commission.
Nevertheless, if a rate schedule is all you've got, then the rate schedule should be where you put your time and energy to bring about new product offerings and improvements. The trouble is that this requires a little creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. Unfortunately, both seem to be in short supply over at the USPS these days.
Mail is still, and for the foreseeable future is likely to remain, an important vehicle for business development and commerce. To stay attractive to its likely users, though, the postal service has to do a major overhaul of its schedule of products and services. Mailers' needs have changed. Postal products haven't. Nor has the postal service's perception of why mailers use mail or what is likely to encourage them to continue doing so in the future.
The USPS likes to restrict its thinking within the bounds of its four walls. If it lets anyone in, access is limited to those "consultants" who have learned that the best way to win the next postal contract is to tell the postal service what it wants to hear rather than what it needs to hear. Consequently, when the USPS sequesters itself to think of something new, at best it manages to serve up the "same old, same old," or, at worst, comes up with some new approach that ultimately will dissuade businesses from using the mail. It's time for the postal service to give product redesign some fresh thought. If it doesn't, there might not be much product worth thinking about.
Print Official USPS postage using your PC at home. Free trial worth $80 available.
GENE A. DEL POLITO is president of the Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom) in Arlington, VA.
COPYRIGHT 2004 PRIMEDIA Business Magazines & Media Inc. All rights reserved.COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
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