Whistling Past the Graveyard

On August 3rd, I retired from the U.S. Postal Service. And, I brought in my own "designer" retirement cakes for a farewell party. One of those cakes showed a cruise-liner sinking, bow first. The ship's name shown on the stern was "USPS TITANIC." Floating away from it was a wooden plank. On it, a rat (me) deserting the sinking ship said, "Boy, that was close."

This did not make me a prophetic postal worker. Every postal worker with even the slightest prophetic ability knew this moment would come. Sadly, it didn't have to come. Here's why it did.

Time-travel back to the mid-to-late 1980s. MS-DOS was the predominant computer operating system. USPS was just beginning to get an inkling of what automated equipment could do but still relied heavily on mechanized devices or hands-on mail processing. But even though we still lived in a world where MS-DOS ruled the roost and computer users were a minority, signs that the paperless communication age was coming were undeniable.

When I was hired, I had a rather primitive (compared to now) personal computer. Internet providers had not yet surfaced in my metropolitan area. But, I did have 300 baud dialup modem access to two online services (soon upgraded to 2400 baud) - GEnie (owned by General Electric) and QuantumLink (now known as AOL). Through them, I was communicating with people all over the globe almost instantaneously. My postal hire-group went to an orientation session where we were given speeches by local department heads. When the marketing rep finished his speech, he called for questions. I asked, "Has USPS considered getting into the electronic mail business?" This was a valid question to ask back then - during the pre-internet years. The rep belly-laughed and replied, "Ha ha, we don't see a future in it."

The first online services were already making a dent in first-class mail volume. But instead of recognizing this as a threat to their business model, they chose to scoff at this threat and think of it as if it was merely a passing fad. In short, they chose to deny the undeniable paperless future.

Over the last few years, USPS has made great strides in cutting back the workforce. But all of these cutbacks were based on the notion that automated devices would replace workers. Unfortunately, this was also based on the notion that these devices would "work" properly. They don't. For proof of this, visit any processing facility that will let you in and ask a manager point-blank to show you where the "turnback" mail is kept. Turnback mail is mail missorted by the automated machines - mail sent to the wrong station, returned for re-processing. They'll probably blush - or possibly say they don't know what you're talking about. But trust me - turnbacks exist in some volume.

Upper management has largely been kept in the dark about this. Middle-managers eager to please (aka "yes men") convinced them that everything was fine and dandy. But, it finally reached a point where their lies could no longer sustain themselves - a point where upper management was forced to wake up and smell the coffee - a bitter brew.

In any case, these personnel cutbacks were all related to notions that automation would save the day. But all the while, the online services (and later, Internet) kept taking bigger bites out of the first-class mail volume ... a situation to which USPS was in denial. They chose to keep counting on the next best automated machine, updating them frantically in hopes that the problems would disappear. Sadly, they only made half of them disappear. The other half was never addressed.

Had USPS, back in the late 1980s, put in place a scenario of gradual personnel cutbacks that equaled the decrease in first-class mail volume ... and combined that scenario with the cutbacks realized from automation (even though those cutbacks were based in part on a fanciful notion), USPS would not be in the crisis it finds itself in now. And now the really sad part - why they didn't do this.

Even now, there are those in the highest realms of upper management who insist that customers lured away by paperless communication methods can be "brought back" - if only they keep improving their methods of moving paper. That's kind of like walking up to a shopper looking for a calculator and saying, "C'mon now, you don't want a calculator. We've got this really fast slide-rule for sale."

One final thought. A lot of people jump on the postal unions as being the big problem. In my experience, these unions tend to be "in bed" with management ... and only get from management what management is willing to give them anyway. It gives management a place to point their finger - even though it was management who approved every benefit employees have. In short, the unions have become management's scapegoat. The real keys to the problems faced by USPS lie in a misplaced trust in automation and a bullheaded lack of foresight at the highest levels of postal management.

It's so very very sad. USPS "should" survive, even if it eventually becomes only a skeleton of its former self. But, the clock keeps ticking and the world keeps turning. It's time to move on.