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For Immediate Release |
Contact: Robert E. McLean |
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Release No. 01-7 |
703-418-0390 |
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July 17, 2001 |
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Postal Service Shows Productivity Improvements
WASHINGTON, July 17, 2001—Responding to the Mailers Council’s call for more focused management, the Postal Service received improved grades in several categories in the second Quarterly Report Card on postal productivity. Grades in several categories improved, especially where the Postal Service has focused management attention and improved the use of technology to reduce the time and staffing required to move the mail.
The Quarterly Report Card shows improved grades in Mail Processing (A-), attributable to the attention postal management has given to streamlining the automation of letter mail. According to the Mailers Council Executive Director Bob McLean, “Similar attention to flats, meaning large envelopes and periodicals, would go a long way to improving productivity, which is the key to holding down postage costs.”
Productivity for Delivery (C+) continues to disappoint, but may reflect in part stagnant mail volume. Data presented by the Mailers Council at a recent congressional hearing shows that recent large increases in postage rates have done little to boost postal revenues. That is because the higher rates for the most part have been offset by substantially lower mail volumes in several mail categories. As a result, the Postal Service will not collect as much revenue as predicted when it filed for the rate increase.
The Mailers Council Report Cards grade the Postal Service’s productivity relative to its own performance in previous quarters, and to productivity trends in the private sector. The Mailers Council believes that by highlighting such trends it encourages the Postal Service to achieve greater productivity growth, thereby reducing the frequency and size of postage rate increases.
Grades reflect the Postal Service productivity for each sector. For example, the Delivery rating is not a grade based on whether the Postal Service carrier consistently delivers letters at the expected time each day; it is a grade that indicates whether the Postal Service is improving the productivity of all employees working in the delivery area.
The Report Cards are not intended to be a reflection on the efforts of postal employees and managers. They measure how well the Postal Service as a whole is improving the efficiency of its operations. The USPS has shown sporadic periods of productivity since 1970, but never consistent productivity gains.
The Report Cards are produced by the Mailers Council, a coalition of corporations, nonprofit organizations and major mailing associations. Council members represent for-profit and nonprofit mailers that use the United States Postal Service to deliver correspondence, publications, parcels, greeting cards and payments. Collectively the Council accounts for nearly 70 percent of the nation's mail volume.
To develop the economic comparisons and resulting grades, the Mailers Council selected the Washington Economics Consulting Group, led by the company's president, Dr. James A. Clifton. An economic consultant and expert witness with more than 20 years experience, Clifton has worked with associations, corporations and government agencies. He has extensive experience examining the Postal Service and its finances. Clifton has testified as an expert witness at numerous hearings before the Postal Rate Commission, the regulatory body that reviews all requests for postage rate increases.
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- For bios of the authors of the Report Card, click here
- For a copy of the Report Card, click here
Note to Media: For more information on postal productivity, see the Mailers Council’s 2000 study on productivity on the Mailers Council’s website (www.mailers.org), or call Joan Worden at 202-337-5411.
©1999-2003 Mailers Council http://www.mailers.org