How would you fix the U.S. Postal Service?

Not everything that is coming from abroad is good. But, I would recommend to take a look at European postal services and their way over the past 10 or better 20 years.

Formerly, they were state owned too but slowly got moved to more privatization. SLOWLY, in many steps and they had to ensure quality of service even in remote areas. I was part of a hugh team only focusing on increasing efficiency in mail sorting and delivery about 15 years ago. At this times, German postal services was the largest employer in Germany with about 350.000 employees.
Over time and because of increasing efficiency, they could reduce by about 100.000.
That's bad for unskilled workers but good for the general public as they could keep postal service fees unchanged over as many as 14 years.
And postal services has changed a lot. About 10 years ago they have started to diversify and enlarge the value chain, adding value-added services like scanning letters for large companies, doing company-in-house mail distribution, created printing services for bills and customized advertising. Now they even use their strong brand to build up a secure email-service that ensures they senden is the person it claims to be - called DE-mail.
I often thought about the USP of the postal services org and came up with a very simple one - they are able to organize an enormous work force of more or less skilled workers to ensure quality of service - and that's something every startup can dream of.

By the way, the Canadian postal services once told us in Germany how to reengineer the company but then slowed down. Germany could overtake them and is now about 10 to 15 years ahead in increasing efficiency and diversifying service.

The buzzword is not privatization, it is efficiency. Just because an organization is public or private is independent of whether it is viable or efficient or not. A large part of the problem has been the governmental roots which has created a bureaucratic approach to product delivery and not focused on the customer. 1) Simplify product lines and make them more user-friendly. Have 5 different ways to send a letter is not efficient for anyone. 2) improve customer experience: actually have more than one window open during peak times in the offices, and deploy self-service stations that are easier to use. 3) Standardize product handling. FedEx has been successful because of standardization (and only 3 options: 1 day, 2 day and ground; standardized package sizes, etc.). 4) Streamline office procedures. USPS has been making some improvements in these directions but has been moving slowly.

The USPS Brand has incredible potential. At its core, the mission of the USPS is to securely connect people using places. As we become more mobile and cloud computing more pervasive, our innate need to understand our place in the world will become more acute.

The US Postal Service must seize this moment to offer US Citizens Email Service (individual online identities) associated with a global geo-spatial postal address data base.

I think a bit differently than most. First, I don’t think you can compare USPS, FedEx, and UPS as their business models are quite different. Second, I think that USPS has made some strategic errors that are reversible.
USPS stops at almost every house every day. The private companies do not. On my street, we can go several days without seeing either of the “competitors.” If I want to send a Birthday Card to a family member in Colorado (from Virginia) I can go with USPS for $0.42 or $5.60 if I want it there quickly. Compare this to $28.24 (includes extra charge for pickup at my house) from FedEx and you can see that privatizing may not be a great idea. Imagine if FedEx or UPS had to stop at every single house every single day. Here are the statistics: FedEx delivers 667,000 overnight letters daily (no regular mail of course); UPS delivers a computed (meaning I had to use some ratios) 427,000 overnight letters daily, and the USPS delivers 563,000,000 regular letters every single day (not including packages or overnight letters). In fact, FedEx and UPS could make no deliveries without the USPS processing 41.5 million address changes per year! Also, FedEx and UPS do not have the capital to invest in the massive infrastructure necessary to process 40% of the world’s mail.
Since a letter carrier has to stop at every house every day, then USPS management needs to add a metric that I will call “Revenue Per Mail Box Per Day”. You see adding 10 pieces of advertising, from a delivery standpoint, does not really cost any more. The first strategic error was raising the bulk mail rates beyond the point where businesses were willing to pay, forcing them to look at alternatives. By adding one piece of advertising to each customer every day and charging only 21 cents you’re looking at $40 billion increase in revenue annually with only a marginal cost change.
IT is my contention that the Internet as a better advertising alternative is flawed to say the least! When we pick up our mail there are ads in it almost every day. I look through the mail to see what bills are in the stack (nobody sends us checks anymore). Then I glance through the ads as I walk up the driveway and into the house. The stack of ads goes on the kitchen table and the bills go in the in-basket and either my wife or I will peruse ads as we sit on the patio. We decide what we are going to look at.
When I’m on the Internet, I am looking for something specific, even specific fun. I don’t think anyone just goes on the Internet without a search query – so you’re looking for something. I do not want an interruption from an ad when I am looking for something specific. Ads that continually cover up the article I’m reading make me mad and I generally don’t buy from an irritating company. On the Internet someone else decides what I am going to look at – not me! I hate that.
The USPS actually had their own fleet of aircraft and it had won several awards for its pioneer work in night flying, the development of navigational aids, and the general advance of aviation in the United States. I think the second strategic mistake was turning over all air service to commercial carriers in 1927. That being said it was compounded by sole sourcing all overnight and express deliveries with FedEx in 2001. There are even FedEx drop boxes at the Post Office. However, FedEx is unable to keep the supplies available (shipping forms and envelopes) to use the service. Why would you want them to do the mail?
This is fixable but we are continually looking at the wrong things and not using common sense metrics because the popular thing is to either cut costs or outsource. You cannot cost cut your way to profitability and we’ve already seen that that unbridled outsourcing is simply a bad recipe.

The first tactic I would apply to the USPS would be a systematic performance review of all personnel from the top down. I know of some wonderful, effective, and dedicated postal service personnel...but I also know some USPS personnel who are the complete opposite: unmotivated, slow, surly, etc.

I see a huge opportunity to "trim the dead wood" out of the organization so that only driven, enthusiastic, and quality personnel remain. This would enable the USPS to become more efficient and more effective, process more mail faster, become known for stellar customer service, etc.

I know dozens of people who have stopped using the USPS in lieu of FedEx and UPS simply because the customer experience at FedEx and UPS is faster and more pleasant: far less time standing in a line, nicer and more efficient personnel, etc. We need to turn the USPS around so that it, too, becomes known for being fast, responsive, and sensitive to customer needs--especially its customers time.

Next, I would end the reward system of providing automatic annual pay raises to all postal personnel. In a nutshell, USPS employees who fail to meet basic performance standards in a given year should not be given a pay increase. The USPS needs to run like a real business, meaning employees should only get raises when merited by their performance, not just because they show up to work every day. I don't know of any profitable, sustainable business that increases every employee's salary on an annual basis; it's no wonder that the USPS is experiencing such dire financial troubles when even lackluster employees receive contunuous raises. Employees will never be motivated to improve performance when they know they get a guaranteed annual raise; make that raise contingent on performance, and you will see performance improve without a doubt.

Its a simple solution. 1. Simplify (no need for 25 different mailing options - especially when most of them are not even advertised at the PO) 2. focus on customer service (I have had THE WORST customer service at post offices, and no other business has EVER come close to being that bad at CS with me) 3. Raise rates on the cheap stuff (first class stamp could be $0.79 and still a bargain. That would decrease the use of the USPS for meaningless items that only irritate people, such as junk mail, but it would also raise the profit margin and allow the USPS to trim horrible workers from their force because fewer items would be sent) 4. Cut the delivery days to M, W, and F only (Most people in the US dont care about getting mail every day. Most probably dont even check their box every day. Who cares?!) So, in summary, the USPS would cut 1/3 or more of their force, simplify to get the lines moving faster, and make the experience at the PO better with friendlier workers. THAT would be easy and effective. I guarantee. OF course, they might lose money again for a few years or more because of pensions and such, but it would come into the black permanently eventually.

There is only one way to fix it, in my opinion---we need to PRIVATIZE it. Look at the DMV and see how well that's working. It's done so poorly that it's spawned private companies (often called things like MVD Express) where people will pay extra just to avoid rude service and the long waits. And guess what? They're profitable!

The U.S. Post Office long ago fought Fed Express trying to deliver packages, saying only the government can do so effectively. Today if you walk into a U.S. Post Office, then go by a Fed Ex or UPS store, the professionalism of the employees and the shorter waits at FE and UPS make it clear. If we can privatize package delivery and make it much more effective, we can do so for the mail service, too.

I agree with Paul; privatize. Also the post office has to somehow get out of the 'civil service attitude' and make employees perform like other businesses do. When I'm dealing with postal employees (of course I'm sterotyping) they seem to not care at all about 'customer satisfaction'.

The civil service model no longer works, and postal employees make way too much money and have ridiculously costly benefits (I know as I have a relative that works for the postal service. He has years of 'unused vacation' stockpiled. What business allows that?).

I get mail at my house for someone that never lived here and always write 'not at this address - return to sender'. I actually got the same piece of mail back once when someone at the post office crossed out what I wrote and sent it back to my house!

Even though I work for the post office as a rural mail carrier, I have to agree with the suggestions above. The unions make it nearly impossible to get rid of inefficient and troublesome employees. Privatizing it would allow for more accountability for people's actions...better customer service because then the employees know that their job is on the line if they don't perform well.

I am a rural carrier. The union is there for a reason and both sides agree to the contract not just us. Customer service is the main issue. We could take a cut in pay across the board. From bottom to top. I also agree with Jay, the civil service attitude is very outdated. We need to run the Postal Service like a business not the old military. My supervisor told me that the military realized years ago this style did not work. You end up with employees bucking management rather than working with them which in turn hurts customer service. I have seen that very clearly in the city craft. I understand why they do what they do but until everyone works as a team, I feel we are doomed.
We need to get the Congressional board to stop making the Postal Service prefund at such a high rate, that alone will bankrupt this company.

I strongly disagree with the push to privatize. No private company will take on the burden of delivery/service of rural and remote areas-there is no profit motive. The push to privatize is another means to concentrate weath in the hands of the few at the expense of the vast majority of people. The postal culture is 'kiss up, kick down' and based on a military model-all decisions are top down-no employee input. I'm sorry that the previous writer experienced poor customer service-it reflects badly on all of us and I think it is a consequence of this toxic culture. To use a term from the private sector the employees are major share holders in this organization and the only voice they have is thru the union. The postal service would benefit by studying companies that have high employee satisfaction-perhaps then concepts like 'team work, we're all in this together, customers first' would have a chance.

This is an excellent point, Ann. Think about what most of us get in the mail--- ads, catalogues and bills. Having a huge, billion dollar agency (funded by each of us taxpayers) that loses our money just about every single year.

I think your ideas are great---and isn't it interesting that they're coming from you (and not the senior managers of the postal service)? What are most of those senior managers doing (other than being paid by all of us)? The new, privatized postal service providers would be competeing eagerly for people like you to contribute new ideas to make their (new, private) company better. And, unlike the postal service (which is drowning in internal politics, partly responsible for its inevitable demise), if you didn't get a 'fair shake' as a valuable employee of private mail service company, you could go work for a competitor. Perhaps for elderly people or people in very rural areas, a MUCH smaller, greatly scaled-down version of the post office could still exist. Otherwise the other 90% or so of the populace would be served by the postal service company of their choice.

Start with better customer service. My local Postmaster and the rural carriers here are rude, sloppy, try to steal parcels and despite numerous complaints on my part to the Regional office, nothing has really changed. I always request UPS or Fed Ex if at all possible when I buy on line, which is often! They may have to have a real crisis before they actually do something positive

Privatize! I agree with Paul. You may recall that back around 10-12 yrs ago, Congress wanted to do just that. Both UPS and FedEx and others, all had programs put together and project plans as well. They were ready to move ahead, but Congress in its stupidity decided they didn't want to do it. So, here we sit with even BIGGER problems. Maybe now, in this economic environment, they will decide to do the right thing for the country.........maybe.....

I'd start with a fresh look at "is there a national concern that needs to be addressed by a public institution?". I believe there still is, but perhaps it can be addressed in the form of oversight versus operation.

The USPS was invented at a time when people in the US were spread out and delivery of mail to everyone was needed and needed to be supported. Today, that has changed and other commercial services provide the same service, often better and at lower cost.

We all know that private industry CAN do a better job than the government. And if you are going to object to this, please state whether you are affiliated with the government or a union in any way so we will understand your bias.

Given some basic rules such as cover everyone (and nothing about who you hire to do the job) and the job will get done less expensively and better.

I remember when Overnight delivery first appeared. For several years the post office tried to get guaranteed overnight delivery working nation wide. Meanwhile, FedEx just did it and at a lower cost. Today the USPS Priority Mail is what remains of USPS Overnight and that only guarantees fast (most of the time) delivery.

There is one law on the books that prevents first class from being delivered by non-postal firms. Today, email is reducing the volume of first class mail and the post office is feeling it. In non-government worlds, a firm loosing as much as the USPS would be shut down. Let's see if we can sell it to investors.

We have to control cost for the post office and run it like a business. But we cannot privatize it at this time. I agree customer service is part of the problem.

Focus on the Mailbox and only stuff that fits in it. Stuff you can put a Stamp on. Stop trying to compete with FedEx and UPS. Drop overnight, international and package shipping. FedEx can't compete with the UPS at the Mailbox. That's their profitable niche. Dropping the extra services will reduce costs and will allow them to be profitable in their niche, the Mailbox

The post office needs to make the delivery of mail as efficient as possible. This will mean pod boxes down the street that are locked and allow for packages in the boxes below the letter spots. Get rid of Saturday delivery the post office workers work 5 day weeks for every 5 routes it takes 6 people.

underutilized post offices should be closed and moved into other stores I have a package store with a post office inside as well as a grocery store both give much better service.

Self service kiosks, I use these and love them, they just need one small improvement I should be able to address my package onscreen not just the city, the kiosks need to be better stocked and they need more to handle the rush times

1.Lower everyone's pay by 25% (some mailpersons make 50-60k a year plus all the benefits
2. Change their benefit package to the standard ie: 10 sick days non accumulative
(now they accumulate and some get years of sick pay) and lower all their benefits to the standard
3. Automate the online website (it's horrible)
4. Close many free standing buildings and offer postal service in more mom and pop stores like we had in the old days

First thing USPS should do is to not renew any contracts and if possible end all contracts with FedEx or UPS.

Give assessments. I suggest surveys of employee morale, would be able to give a fair view of the internal issues within USPS. You can't ask employees to achieve extraordinary results if they're not fully engaged.

Attitude reflects leadership, instead of laying off thousands of employees, I believe USPS needs to restructure their leadership. Low performance managers need to be replaced by high performers who are already at USPS and are hungry to contribute. The culture must change.

And finally, I believe that the USPS needs a marketing campaign to change their image, from the design and color of uniforms, to a competent system to track packages and serve customers.

Obviously, the USPS would have to spend a considerable amount of time and money to accomplish this. You can either spend more for growth and change or hope that cutting down costs can magically turn things around. It basically comes down to a battle of ideologies:

Bottom-up vs Trickle down