USPS institutes cost-cutting practices
Throughout the past decade, the U.S. Postal Service has steadily cut costs from its budget. Cost cutting is not new to USPS, which has stripped more than $20 billion in costs. Cumulative savings over that period total $50 billion, with $6 billion in fiscal year 2009 alone.
Compared to ten 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.
Even with much less mail to deliver, the Postal Service still visits 150 million addresses six days a week, it continues to make advance payments into a retiree health benefit fund (an obligation unique to the Postal Service in all the federal government) and it keeps the doors open at post offices that aren’t covering their costs because federal law mandates it.
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 four hours sorting mail and four hours delivering. Now they spend less time in the office before starting their routes, because automation sorts letters in delivery order at processing plants.
Service is the top priority, with customers being the focus of everything the Postal Service does. During the past ten years, USPS has established a record of unprecedented service improvements. Customers have rewarded these efforts, giving USPS high marks for delivering affordable, dependable service.
On-time delivery of First-Class Mail has steadily increased during the decade to record-high levels. Customers trust employees to protect their information and privacy. USPS is perennially named in surveys as the most trusted federal agency and is consistently ranked in the top ten of most-trusted businesses.
More than 1.2 million customers visit usps.com each day-where they can use Click-N-Ship to print postage and labels from any computer. Automated Postal Centers in retail lobbies and Carrier Pickup have made mailing and shipping with USPS easier than ever. And this year’s census mailings were the largest in history.
Innovative partnerships have helped improve service and expand access. Agreements with FedEx and UPS for air transport of mail have spawned a new word-“coopetition.” Alliances with online enterprises such as eBay are examples of how USPS is navigating in an increasingly digital world and meeting the needs of customers.
For more information about purchasing stamps, stamps by mail, postal regulations, a free subscription to USA Philatelic magazine, Post Office events, the location of the nearest postal store or contract unit, or for answers to your specific Postal Service questions, contact USPS at 1-800-275-8777, or visit www.usps.com. To schedule a presentation for your community, club or group on how the Postal Service brings the Post Office to your home or office computer, call 239-573-9638.
Mr. Zip’s Tip: During the first half of fiscal year 2010, the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General conducted 1,992 investigations. They led to 393 arrests and more than $1.3 billion in fines, restitutions and recoveries.
An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation 146 million homes and businesses. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.