Says marketers giving mail a fresh look due to better data and technology integration
SALT LAKE CITY — In a state of the business address to postal customers, Postmaster General and CEO Patrick R. Donahoe gave an upbeat assessment of the opportunities facing the mailing industry.
“With all of the changes occurring in the way people communicate, mail is proving to be an especially resilient marketing channel, and its value to America’s businesses is increasing due to better data and technology integration,” said Donahoe. “When you combine these important technology-driven changes with the strength we’re starting to see in the economy, there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about mail’s role in America’s marketing mix.”
Donahoe emphasized the transformative role of technology in driving industry growth at the annual National Postal Customer Council (PCC) Week event, which brings together thousands of mailers, industry partners and customers nationwide to strengthen collaboration and strategic alignment with the Postal Service.
“The Postal Service is making great strides with the rich data we provide to our customers,” said Donahoe. “We are enhancing our products and services based on a much stronger data and technology platform, and that is driving a lot of exciting opportunities for America’s marketers and businesses.”
The Postal Service is currently enabling a smarter delivery system through technology investments that include geo-fencing — creating a digital address — for every delivery location in America, and providing letter carriers with greatly enhanced mobile delivery devices. These investments provide better delivery accuracy and visibility, and enable enhanced product and delivery offerings — such as package redirect and Priority Mail features that include free insurance, tracking and date-specified delivery.
“Businesses are getting very savvy about integrating and combining mailing data with data from other marketing channels — especially digital,” said Donahoe. “When you marry those data streams, businesses can create much more effective offerings and get a much better return on mail, especially when used as part of integrated marketing campaigns. All of this is driving a fresh look at the power and value of mail.”
Donahoe identified four key strategies to enhance the value of mail: making mail pieces more personally relevant to the recipient, more actionable in terms of enabling speed to purchase, more functional by embedding technology such as QR codes in mail pieces, and making mail more creative by using more color and design.
The Postmaster General also discussed ongoing improvements to Postal Service mail processing, delivery and retail operations, and the urgent need for comprehensive legislation to enable further needed delivery fleet and package sorting equipment purchases.
PCCs are a network of community-based business mailers and representatives of the Postal Service, who meet regularly to share ideas and resources to create a closer working relationship. Local PCCs provide access to a network of mailing and business professionals who share best practices and offer solutions that help keep the mailing industry strong.
National PCC Week also showcases the work of PCCs across the country and includes a series of awards recognizing outstanding service and individual achievement. The following award winners were announced:
PCC Industry Member of the Year
Lucie Jameson, Greater Hartford (CT) PCC Gold
Julian Kasten, Baltimore (MD) PCC Silver
Kim Harrison, Capitol City (MO) PCC Bronze
PCC Postal Member of the Year
Shawneen Betha, Greater Portland (OR) PCC Gold
Laurel Stengel, Long Island (NY) PCC Silver
Vicki Lincoln, Greater Hartford PCC Bronze
District Manager of the Year
Lorraine Castellano, Long Island PCC Gold
Kim Anderson, Greater Portland PCC Silver
Dale Walker, Lehigh Valley (PA) PCC Bronze
PCC of the Year – Large Market
Greater Portland PCC Gold
Greater Dallas PCC Silver
Tampa Bay PCC Bronze
PCC of the Year – Small Market
Cedar Valley (IA) PCC Gold
Lehigh Valley PCC Silver
Capitol City PCC Bronze
PCC Innovation of the Year
Greater Dallas PCC Gold
Tampa Bay PCC Silver
Greater New Jersey PCC Bronze
Communication Program Excellence
Baltimore PCC Gold
Greater Portland PCC Silver
Greater Birmingham PCC Bronze
Education Program Excellence
Greater Portland PCC Gold
Greater Birmingham (AL) PCC Silver
Long Island PCC Bronze
More information on Postal Customer Councils and National PCC Week can be found at usps.com/pcc.
To view the Postmaster General’s PCC Day video, or read a transcript, go to
about.usps.com/what-we-are-doing/pcc-week/.
It’s interesting how much money we sink into the latest technological toys but still can’t replace a decrepit death trap of an LLV fleet. That aside, talking about great service on one hand and trying to close facilities with the other only reveals the intent of liars and crooks who lie to various legislators across the country who are constantly battling Donahoe to keep plants open. This PMG is a first class liar, out to destroy the service and a huge egomaniac to boot. No PMG before him was all over TV and had vain video messages for employees that we were mandated to watch. Just so you know, PMG, people just sneer and ignore your vanity projects and don’t believe a damn word you say. Cut back on costs and try being something besides a star.
And you know it’s the craft who made your numbers look good and you management types took the credit and stuffed your pockets for a job well done you had nothing to do with. Where’s our bonuses for good scanning scores? Where’s our recognition for customer compliments? They go in the trash or management refuses to acknowledge it. It’s frustrating but I know you upper echelon creeps are burning your bridges, pissing off Congress and will soon be held accountable by somebody who can do something about your malfeasance and embezzlement. You can’t keep fucking over Congress like you’re doing. You are going down, sooner or later by the public outcry concerning your deliberately trying to destroy the USPS.
We will never compete in the parcel business until management at the local levels are forced to accept the changing dynamics of the USPS. Most managers today are preoccupied with EXFC scores (where there is bonus money to be had for them) which do not include parcels/packages. In our plant, it is not unusual for dozens of wiretainers to sit unprocessed for days so all employees can be utilized in the letter automation area to maximize the EXFC score at the expense of the parcel business. Wake up headquarters, put the bonus dollars into the area where our business model is growing, not shrinking!!
The biggest “Mailing Industry Opportunity” this bozo is optimistic about, is the amount of kickbacks and bribes he’s getting from them.
The annual announcement by Donawhore that the postal service world is ending in October and will run out of money to run day to day operations because no crappy reform bill was passed is coming soon.
I thought we were broke???
“providing letter carriers with greatly enhanced mobile delivery devices”
But neglecting to train carriers on the devices.
” investments provide better delivery accuracy and visiblity”
so you can actually see how much slower the mail is processed because of the closure of so many plants.
Keep want makes money for the post office like the shipping and parcel business. The mailing business is shrinking so change the game plan to be #1 and compete!
The most thing that makes me mad is the money games they play and try to kill jobs. The population doesn’t stop growing and booming!!! So Create jobs and quite screwing the middle class to pay for everything!!!!