Over 700 Postal Service executives met in Dallas in October and collectively reached a consensus on how best to capitalize on changes brought by the Postal Act of 2006 in order to become more competitive and efficient, according to the postal news service.
It said postmaster general Jack Potter told those in attendance, "We must have aggressive growth to be profitable and we have to change to compete in the marketplace," and that, "We have to drive innovation and leverage intelligent technology, be accountable at a higher standard and use knowledge to our customers’ advantage — and add new value to the mail to ensure we deliver for future generations."
According to USPS, following a series of group sessions focusing on efficiency, culture and growth, the executives chose the three best opportunities for 2008 out of all the ideas the groups came up with.
Those in attendance agreed that in order to drive growth, the service should maximize competitive pricing flexibilities and focus on the last mile of delivery for competitors and parcel returns.
They also said in order to become more efficient, the service needs to better manage sick leave and overtime as well as maximize the use of non-career employees.
Finally, in order to engage employees, the service needs to shift from an internal to a customer focus and create performance incentives, the executives decided, the postal news service said.
That prompted president of the American Postal Workers Union to write the postmaster general an angry letter reminding him that a few of those issues are covered by collective bargaining, and he said it sounded like a call to try to skirt labor contracts.
"I note that compliance with the National Agreement was not listed among the leading objectives," Burrus said.
