The End of Mail?
Specifically, Potter outlined ongoing elements of the Postal Service’s strategy to help close the budget gap – a “chasm, widening each day,” he said – created by the agency’s revenue shortfall. These include:
- A new process for evaluating and adjusting city delivery routes
- Reduction of employee work hours and overtime by pursuing even greater efficiencies throughout the organization
- Halting construction of new postal facilities and directing funds to the sites with the most critical needs (i.e., buildings badly damaged or destroyed by natural disasters)
- Improved fleet management and delivery routing to reduce fuel usage
- Expanded energy efficiency to reduce energy use throughout Postal Service facilities
- Reductions in employee travel budgets through the use of web and video technology to conduct meetings and conferences
- Renegotiations of supplier contracts to reflect reduced needs