We just received this piece of troubling news from Tony Conway, the Executive Director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers (of which CBA is a member).

Mail service issues have developed at various places across the country.  This is due generally to postal budget cuts that affect the amount of workhours available for local managers.  In one location, Philadelphia, the problems have received substantial press coverage.

The Postal Service experienced a total mail volume decline in FY08, which ended on September 30, of 9.5 billion pieces—-an unprecedented one year decline.  To combat the revenue decline associated with the volume decline the Postal Service used over 50 million fewer workhours in FY08 than they had in FY07.  The Postal Service projects a mail volume decline of at least 8 billion more pieces in FY09 and has adopted a plan to reduce another 100 million workhours during the year.  In October and November the Postal Service used about 15 million fewer workhours than they did in the first two months of FY08.  Workhours, employee costs, represent over 80 percent of total Postal Service costs.

Historically the Postal Service has difficulty cutting substantial workhours without adversely affecting mail service.  The current Postmaster General, Jack Potter, has the best track record of cutting while maintaining service levels of any Postmaster General.  But it’s getting tougher to do because the fruit is now higher in the trees.

As you know, it’s impossible to correct the damage done after a mailing has missed its targeted delivery window.  But I do recommend reporting the problems, along with detailed information about the mailings, to the Postal Service so the issues don’t go unnoticed.   The Postal Service generates daily internal mail condition reports to aid management but I believe the reporting of problems, even after the fact, help paint a more complete picture.  As with any massive nationwide organization, some places operate fine with reduced staffing levels and some don’t.  Quality of management, cooperation of unions, and quality of workers (work ethic) all factor into success or failure.

We, of course, will continue to monitor the situation and work with our mailhouse vendor-partners and the US Postal Services to get our clients’ campaigns out on schedule.

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