Canada Post – National performance YTD
Introduction – Craig Porter:
Toronto Chapter Director, Craig Porter, (Mackenzie Financial), welcomed attendees and presenters. The meeting was lightly attended due to timing, however, the agenda could not be delayed further. Chapter members are asked to provide feedback to these notes on any areas of interest/concern to: [email protected]
Special Note: Some visuals have been removed from the presentations because they do not make sense without narrative. NAMMU and CPC will be happy to host another discussion session(s) if sufficient members request them. It was agreed the follow-ups from the National Workshop of April 20th were inappropriate for this Chapter session since attendance did not replicate the workshop composition.
Next Meeting: September 28 See note in Issues/Action Items below.
Labor and Operations Update – Steve Fulton:
1) Canada Post is exceeding their 96% delivery service target for all product lines.
2) Steve Fulton, Director, Innovation Transaction Mail, talked about the formation of the “Customer Value Council”. Among their first priorities are changes being made to South Central to allow access to more trucks and the addition of bag service to Gateway.
3) Labor update was provided. NOTE: speak directly with Chapter Director about concerns.
BRM Process Walkthrough/Standards – Steve Fulton:
1) Steve walked through a BRM process flowchart. The delivery standard for Business Reply Mail is 3 business days for local delivery, 4 days within the province, and 5 days nationally. Significantly, the induction day at the originating plant is day 0. There is a specific Service Grid and exceptions list in Section G of the Canadian Postal Guide.
2) Canada Post does not track the mail through the process and it is only during the billing process that they can state how much mail they have for each client.
3) While Steve said that they do not hold mail, it was admitted that Canada Post does accumulate mail for clients as long as they can still meet their delivery service targets. Nammu members are concerned that this results in unplanned for spikes and lulls in volumes, making it difficult to schedule their businesses.
4) Laura Artibello asked about the approval process for BRM design and was told that she should speak to the Commercial Service Network and they will guide her through the process.
5) Steve mentioned that Canada Post is open to discuss the features vs. cost of the BRM product.
6) Canada Post was questioned about their apparent policy of offering BRM discounts to some of their print clients. Discounts not available to anyone outside of Canada Post. Specifically, waiving the annual BRM fee and lowering the per piece cost. CPC will respond directly to member.
CRM and SLA Walk Through – Howard Calvert:
1) Howard Calvert, Director, Business Process Improvement, discussed the process for escalating and resolving induction issues. While they are supportive of the RVU’s settling these issues, he pointed out that RVU’s are not call centers. The response and service level is based on the type of issue (mail preparation, payment/contract, or deposit timing) and whether or not the mail is being held or released etc. Canada Post has internal service level agreements listing the expected call and resolve times depending on the urgency of the problem.
2) Nammu members have had issues with whether Canada Post should be contacting the Mail Service Provider or the End Customer when induction problems arise. Howard said that whom they call depends on the type of issue.
3) Howard ran through the mailpiece pre-approval process. They are averaging 2.7 days to review and approve mailpieces. The target is 5 days.
4) There have been some problems with truck wait times at Gateway. A wait time of 3 hours for example costs the mail service provider time and money.
Industry Discussion – Lettermail Sortation Software:
1) One member reported that software vendors had been consulted on the High/Low density sort. This may cause significant cost and timing issues for some major mailers. Most present complained about the lack of information flow from CPC to Lettermail users.
Industry Discussion – Top Two Induction Priorities:
1) Nammu members would like immediate notification of problems.
2) We need consistency of how rules are applied between different RVU’s.
3) The goal is to reduce the instances of mail being held.
Issues and Action Items:
1) Joe Addeo will report back with a week on the BRM discount issue.
2) Joe will also get back to us on the High and Low Density issue.
3) And Joe will report back on the re-pricing guidelines.
4) Howard Calvert will provide us with a copy of the guideline that Canada Post follows for contacting clients regarding induction issues.
5) Canada Post will provide us with abbreviated copies of their presentations.
6) The next Toronto Chapter Meeting will be held on Thursday, September 28th.
7) Craig Porter stated that if members wish this to be a golf day, he will need to hear from volunteers by July 28th and that he’ll need commitment for attendance prior to the meeting date.
Craig Porter
Toronto Chapter Director
July 18, 2006
