Print Delivers

Unions and USPS Headed for Arbitration?

Negotiations between the Postal Service and the unions representing postal workers ended at the midnight deadline last Saturday without an agreement. With prospects appearing dim, the deadline was extended until Tuesday, Nov. 23. Because the Post Office is designated an essential service by law, postal employees are not allowed to strike if negotiations fail. Instead, the Postal Service and unions representing over 324,000 employees will go to an arbitrator who will make the final decision. The arbitrator does not have to consider the economic condition of the USPS in making his decision, but the economic situation may be an 800 lb. gorilla in the room.

The current recession and migration to digital communications have resulted in the greatest loss in mail volume since the Great Depression. The mail has gone from 213 billion pieces in 2006 to 170.6 billion in the fiscal year ended last September. This represents a net loss of $8.5 billion for 2010. And mail volume is expected to decline to 150 billion pieces by 2020.

The Postal Service does not operate with government subsidies, but relies entirely on the sale of stamps and services for its operating funds. As a quasi-government agency, however, it must follow operating rules established by congress. That has occasionally made the USPS a political football. One suggestion for cutting operating costs has been to eliminate Saturday delivery. That could save $3.1 billion annually. The Postal Regulatory Commission will consider that idea and give its recommendations to congress next month.

It will be interesting to see if politics will be put aside long enough to give the USPS a chance to operate within congressional mandates and at a cost acceptable to the public.

Who Do You Trust?

Do you trust the government when it comes to safeguarding your personal information? In its annual survey, the Ponemon Institute found that most Americans did not put a lot of faith in government's ability to protect their privacy. The average score among the 75 federal government agencies covered by the survey was 38%.

Not surprising, the agencies given the lowest scores were Customs and Border Protection, and  Citizenship and Immigration Services, at 16% and 17% respectively. The Federal Trade Commission fared much better at 79% and even the IRS showed a level of trust at 71%.  But the highest score, at 87%, went to the U.S. Postal Service. Actually, the annual survey has consistently shown the USPS at the top. People have trusted and still trust the mail more than any other agency of the federal government.

For a link to a complete copy of the survey, go to Federal Computer Week, the June 2010 issue.

Email Marketing

Here is something to keep in mind if you are marketing your products via email. Some email programs, like G-mail and Yahoo, provide sponsored links along side the emails they deliver to their email recipients. If you are sending an email promoting your particular product, the target of your email will receive a list of sponsored links along with your message. Those sponsored links come from companies who are buying advertising space from the e-mail provider based on the content of your email.

Google is very good at this. If you send an email blast promoting your shoe store, for example, don't be surprised to find that it arrives in your potential customer's email box with a whole list of ads from competing shoe retailers. Your ad may arouse your potential customer's interest in a new pair of shoes only to have them click on one of your competition's ads that appears to be a better offer. Even if there is no sale, you will have succeeded in introducing your customer to a whole range of competitors offering the same or similar products.

Of course, this doesn't mean that you should never use email marketing. Like any marketing tactic, it needs to be applied within an overall marketing strategy to develop your business. An integrated marketing plan will use email along with direct mail and other media to achieve the most effective combination and timing of your messages.