1. Why is it important for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to have a high volume of mail to process?
It’s important for USPS to have a high volume of mail to process because USPS is the largest postal service in the world handling about 41% of the world’s mail volume. The second largest is Japan and they only handled 6% of the world’s mail volume, which is a way of showing how important and huge is USPS as a company and that shows the importance of being able to handle and process high volume of mail.
2. What caused productivity to increase?
With the increasing volume of mail USPS looked for ways to improve productivity and the main two key factors were an increase use of automation and the introduction of zip codes. The mail system underwent a major shift to mechanization between the 50’s and the 60’s which allow USPS to be more rapid in the mail processing and that increase productivity. Also in 1978, an expansion of the zip codes was introduced and in 1983 there was an expansion by adding 4 more digits to the current zip codes structure that was in place. USPS also started using automated processing equipment and bar codes and optical readers which added value to their productivity.
3. What impact did competitive pressures have on the USPS?
The two giants FEDEX and UPS have a great impact in USPS because they competed in speedy delivery and package tracking giving customers and businesses more convenient alternatives for some of the services offered. Together with some other issues the other delivery companies caused a slowdown in the volume of mail that USPS was receiving.
4. What measures did the USPS adopt to increase competitiveness?
USPS recognized the threats they were facing and creating several strategies to become and stay competitive. Those strategies included reorganizing their structure, continuing to seek ways to keep costs down, increasing productivity and emphasizing in quality and customer service.