74th US Postmaster General promises to invest in Postal Service’s future
The new US Postmaster General has pledged to “invest in the future of the Postal Service” as the pace of change accelerates in the delivery business. Megan Brennan, previously the USPS chief operations officer, took over as 74th US Postmaster General at the start of this month, as predecessor Patrick Donahoe retired.
America’s first female Postmaster General wrote a letter to 600,000 employees yesterday, setting out her priorities. She said long-term success depended on strengthening the Postal Service’s core offerings.
But, she also emphasized the need for a greater focus on innovation, with plans for pilot projects to test new tools to meet the digital and mobile expectations of customers and small businesses.
Brennan said as well as service innovations, investment had to be put into staff training and development, systems and processes, and data and technology.
“It also means making long overdue improvements to our infrastructure,” she stated, “including upgrading our vehicle fleet and deploying advanced package sortation equipment.”
Investment
The USPS delivery fleet, one of the largest civilian fleets in the world, is at the end of its planned lifespan, but major investments in replacement vehicles have been delayed because of the Postal Service’s multi-billion dollar debts and liquidity crisis.
However, last month the Postal Service issued a request for information from potential suppliers who could potentially provide 160,000 new “next generation” delivery vehicles.
In her letter to employees, Brennan promised to build the “most efficient and productive network” to support growth products. Last month USPS began moves to close a further 82 mail processing plants to continue streamlining its network to cater for declining mail volumes.
She told employees: “We have a lot of momentum as an organization today-despite our financial challenges. We continue to take prudent steps to bring our costs and revenues into better alignment. However, the way we are structured today and the way we serve the public today will not be adequate to fully meet the demands of tomorrow’s marketplace. To be successful in the future, we will continually reorient our business strategies to better connect with our customers and redefine the ways we serve the American public.”
Brennan
The new US Postmaster General began her career in the mail business as a letter carrier in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1986. She rose through the ranks taking roles including district manager in Springfield, Massachusetts, and plant manager for the Lehigh Valley and Reading, Pennsylvania, processing and distribution facilities.
From May 2005 Brennan served as vice president of Northeast Area Operations, until she was promoted to vice president of Eastern Area, overseeing operations in an area covering Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Delaware, Kentucky, Central and South Jersey, Western New York and parts of Virginia and Indiana.
Brennan is a graduate of the Immaculata College in Pennsylvania and has an MBA as a Sloan fellow from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
