On a second dig to USPS...

Earlier, I was reading yet another article about how moribund USPS is.

What gets to me, is not the subject matter.  Afterall, everyone knows USPS has been on a downward death match for a long time now.  What irks me, is the writer - Jeff Jordan - of the abovementioned article, supposedly a partner at a VC fund, coming in with this know-it-all attitude, laying it out, in your face, that "I know your problems better than you do, and I have a solution to every problems you have" type of attitude.  In short, it sounds a whole lot like Mitt Romney, the overpriced consultant.

He makes it sound like he has it all figured out, but what was laid out in the article, is basically information from public domain that have been rehashed, time and again, for so many times, that it has the feeling of beating a dead horse just one more time.

Consider this:

The stamps.com initiative - is exactly the type of innovation that the writer should have been championing about.  This initiative is very popular among users like ebay sellers who can weigh their parcel, print the postage, and simply drop off the packages at post office or at their own mailbox for pickup.  But instead of rallying around innovation like this, what does this writer has to offer, as an "example" of his innovation?  Digital mailbox.  Duh.

Granted, that the "business model" (if you can call it that) of USPS never makes sense to me.  It tries to provide a mandated public service, with strict government and regulator oversight, but with a private revenue focus.  Well, with Congress on its back, it'll NEVER work.  And if USPS really is to go down the path of privatization, as this writer has propositioned, then USPS will stop the last-mile delivery from day one, because that is a surefire money loser.  Any sensible chief executive of a private entity would have cut those money losers, even at the risk of losing tremendous public goodwill.

Jordan further cites the failure of USPS's package business, but I don't think it's losing to UPS and FedEx.  There are actually more people using USPS Priority Mail and Parcel Post service, than UPS and FedEx these days.  For individuals, how many of them would enjoy the "volume discount" (offered by UPS and FedEx) that Jordan refers to anyways.  It's just total bullshit.  As it is now, pricing of Priority Mail and Parcel Post is competitive, for individual customers; I, for one, never have the needs to turn to UPS or FedEx.  And the delivery of Priority Mail or Parcel Post can be just as fast as UPS or FedEx.  I can even leave my packages at my mailbox for the mailman to pick up too.  How do you beat that?

But, there are pathways in which EVERYONE knows USPS has to take, in order to survive.  (We don't need Jordan to tell us that; thank you very much.)  That includes closing more post offices, some of which serve only as watering hole for small town community.  (If the small town folks really need a place to congregate, they should rally their congressmen to open community centers, rather than mandating USPS to keep an office for them to hang out.)  I'll bet you any day, that Congress would never grant full power to USPS to do that, nor to negotiate more flexible labor contracts, all of which have the view to appeasing their own constituents.  Other than a mere mention that this takes "political will," what else has Jordan come up with to help USPS on this front?  Nothing.

As a sometimes USPS customer, and one that has crossed over to the digital world long time ago, I'll tell you what makes sense to me, and what doesn't:

(a)  Those racks that has greeting cards?  Get rid of them.  For the life of me, I've never seen anyone buying or even looking at those cards or calendars or stuffs on offer.  Why waste the space?  Greeting cards and calendars are dying relics of a bygone era.

(b)  Those packing materials?  Put them in a vending machine.  There is no need for customers to have to buy them and pay in person over the counter.  It's a waste of the cash counter's time (to process the transaction) and customer's time (to have to stand in line to pay).

(c)  Add the vending machine for others like stamps, but the machine has to accept credit cards.  No one uses cash these days anymore, except the old ladies.

(d)  I would have used self-serve kiosk to pay for the Priority Mail or Parcel Post packages, but those machines are less cumbersome to use, which often requires having another USPS employee to stand by to help customers.  What's the point of a self-serve kiosk when it requires help every time?

USPS has amassed tremendous public goodwill.  Hindsight is 50/50, and it's a missed opportunity for USPS to position itself as a hub for all bill-pay, physical or digital.  Don't laugh, because this can be done.  Just look at the bill-pay at Auspost in Australia, which provides convenience for customers to pay bills online or by phone or at post office, and is immensely popular in Australia.  USPS never harnessed that beast, allowing banks to come in and take over the bill-pay space.  These days, customer habits have become so entrenched in bank bill-pay that it would have been a herculean uphill battle to wrestle that from banks.  But can it be done?  I do believe there's a slim chance.  There is an under-served market in the non-bank customers, and older customers, or new and illegal immigrants.  Could USPS offer a less intimidating option for them, than the mandate to have a bank account before they can pay bills?  I would think so.

The trajectory of USPS, though, is not working in its favor; and time is running out.  The longer it waits, the faster its death spiral will be.  The way it's going, it's only a matter of time before it defaults.  Why don't we just drop the pretense that USPS is a private entity when it has ALL the hallmarks of a public service and federal agency??  When would we stop kidding ourselves that, if we the taxpayers want the postal service to be universal, we'll have to pay up, one way or the other, either by higher postage, or fund it through direct intervention?  And if we are serious about helping USPS stand on its feet, Congress and Washington have to get off of its back.  And if Congress can't let it go, embrace it and make it a federal agency again.  There is no middle ground: case in point, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  But again, I very much doubt if those power-hungry old farts (aka. the House and the Senate) will let go of their holding powers over USPS.