USPS’s workgroups to improve service
Three workgroups presented their plans at the Mailers’ Technical Advisory Committee Meeting, each with its own purpose. All three shared a common goal: to improve service and measurement.
The first group’s task was to revise the strategic transformation plan. Linda Kingsley, USPS senior vice president of strategy and transition, said that the workgroup is in the midst of revision and that the actual document is not due for another year.
The USPS is supposed to put together five-year plans every three years. Now the group has a big challenge. It totally has to revise the plan give the new law, which went into effect in May.
The new law accelerates the need to measure service for all classes of mail using intelligent mail. In addition, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance is changing. Due to all of this the workgroup is resetting their priorities in the new plan.
The new plan is expected to be out in November of this year.
The next workgroup talked about how it is set to identify gaps and define solutions for adoption of PostalOne by lettershops and mail service providers.
Steve Colella, one of the workgroup members, said that more companies are accepting electronic statements and therefore they must indicate status, either preliminary or final.
Mail preparers want to be able to track and trace their pallets having as little as 200 pieces or 50 lbs. of mail. He also mentioned that spoilage has to be accounted for.
The group has made a software vendor capability matrix draft, and a final matrix is expected shortly.
The last group is responsible for advanced notification streamlined verification. Carla Siniscachi presented the group’s process. The workgroup’s aim is to define capabilities for streamlined notification and accessibility for First-Class Mail.
Determining how advance notification data will optimize the normal day-to-day activities of USPS’s systems like transportation is a first step. The group wants mailers to provide same period as last year data (SPLY).
