As the Postal Service was accelerating its repurposing and consolidation of mail processing operations, it became known that one facility that would be affected was the Missoula (MT) P&DC. Under the network realignment plan, it would be downgraded to a Local Processing Center, handling only mail destinating in its service area. Outgoing volume would be trucked nearly 200 miles over…
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Industry people who’ve often heard Postmaster General Louis DeJoy speak, such as at the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee, usually have a different perspective of him than those who’ve heard him less, such as at the National Postal Forum. Just about every time, the topic is his 10-Year Plan. On its face, DeJoy’s argument about the need to take decisive action…
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Everyone is familiar with “the dog ate my homework” as characterizing any proffered excuse that falls short of being an adequate explanation for the related circumstance. (Pity the poor kid whose dog really did eat his homework.) The latest example is in one of the Postal Service’s weekly news releases bragging about its “stable” service performance. In the December 11…
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Sometimes it might be better to retain a working process rather than implement something else. The article below is a report from one of our subscribers, and illustrates a situation in which a practical ad hoc solution was ended simply because it wasn’t “official.” If only the Postal Service would operate like a business! Here is the perfect example of…
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There always have been occasional stories about somebody getting a letter or card that a long-dead relative had sent years or decades earlier. Where a piece of mail could spend such an interval was always the object of speculation: in an empty sack, stuck in an old letter case, behind a piece of post office furniture – who knows. More…
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Nearly three years into the reign of Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General, many in the commercial mail production business have conceded that their irrelevance to Postal Service leadership is now nearly total. Accordingly, what they think or need matters virtually not at all at L’Enfant Plaza, and, as a result, we’re all just along for the ride. Where that ride…
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As 2022 came to a close, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was interviewed by Government Executive to get his opinions about progress in implementing his 10-year Plan. For DeJoy, 2023 is the “Year of Implementation” when many of the operational changes he’s been planning finally are put in place and, presumably, begin to deliver the efficiencies and cost savings that he…
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Persons who’ve heard Postmaster General Louis DeJoy speak more than once note that he tends to use the same format every time: Along the way, keep referring to (1) anyone who isn’t dogmatically committed to the Plan as “resistance” and “noise,” (2) the PAEA’s ratesetting system as “defective,” and (3) the Postal Service’s trucks as always carrying a lot of…
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The concept of balance is present in many philosophies, operations, and financial considerations, and requires that competing factors and forces be in equilibrium for balance to be achieved. The analogy can be applied to the Postal Service which, financially, has been off balance for many years. The agency was debt-free at the end of fiscal 2005, i.e. until the Postal Accountability…
Read MoreAttention members of the commercial mail production community: You’re being pitched. After nineteen months in office, and ten months after issuing his 10-year Plan, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is getting out of his office at USPS HQ and taking his sales pitch to the people. Actually, his Selling the Plan tour began last year; he appeared at selected USPS facilities, at…
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