Trends in Print and Mail

“Plans are useless after the first shot is fired.” – Military Adage (attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte)

I’m a strong proponent of planning – project plans, budget plans, travel plans. Even weekend plans. Schedules and plans help me accomplish my goals. However, most plans have to be changed as soon as the action begins.

So, if I can’t always follow the plans I develop, then why plan at all?

Good plans include key elements that remain in place even when the plan changes, due to unforeseen events. These key elements are:

At a time when the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is struggling with declining volumes, someone at that organization has decided that one answer is to create additional restrictions on what could be mailed at Marketing Mail rates.

Each spring, mailers gather at the National Postal Forum, and every fall brings the spotlight to Postal Customer Councils (“PCCs”), culminating in National PCC week, which takes place September 24 – 28, 2018.

On July 6, 2018, when the Trump Administration announced tariffs on certain goods from China, the media focused on steel and aluminum – essential components of manufacturing. The tariffs actually were applied an entire group of products – detailed on a 28-page list available on the United States Trade Representative (USTR) website. The impact goes beyond automobiles and motorcycles, including equipment used in the mailing industry.

When a company decides to outsource customer communications to a service provider, that doesn’t mean the work is done. The vendor must be monitored and managed to ensure that they’re meeting the standards negotiated in the contract. Savvy customers take managing their vendors to the next step – by conducting periodic audits for quality control, best practices, and compliance with postal and industry regulations.

In February 2018, the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced the launch of their new Enterprise Payment System (EPS). As the USPS demonstrates in the below chart, EPS will bring together payments for all types of postal expenses.

On June 21, 2018, as part of a plan to overhaul the federal government, the Trump Administration proposed to restructure and privatize the US Postal Service (USPS). The report, entitled “Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century,” was released by the Office of Management and Budget Director, Mick Mulvaney.

This announcement comes almost 2 months before the scheduled release of the report from the president’s Task Force on the USPS. The Task Force was appointed by the president in April, and is headed by Director Mulvaney, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, and Director of Office of Personnel Management, Jeff Pon.

“First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst.” – Dale Carnegie

In the Summer of 1997, I was the Assistant Vice President of Mail Services at State Street Corporation in Boston. My team was responsible for inbound and outbound mail for the Greater Boston area. That included shipping out hundreds of overnight packages each day – the bulk of those were handed off to United Parcel Service (UPS).

Growing up, I never heard my mother say, "Why can't you be more like your brother?" And I'm not an only child. I'm the second youngest of 10 kids.

My mother recognized each of us as individuals with different talents and skills. For some, it was school. For some, music. For others, sewing and crafts. For some, sports – no stars, but we made the team.

For the second year in a row, over 4,000 people came together at the National Postal Forum (NPF). This year’s conference in San Antonio marked the 50th anniversary of the NPF. Things have changed a lot since 1968, and the 3 words that sum up the US Postal Service’s (USPS) message throughout the show were: informed, integrated and disruptive.