United States Postal Service

United States Postal Service

A self-supporting agency of the U.S. government, USPS concerns itself with the provision of postal and mail services in the U.S. Being independent, this means that the agency isn't supported by tax dollars. Essentially, "it delivers more mail to more addresses in a larger geographical area than any other post in the world" (2014). In seeking to define its geographical reach, USPS points out that it delivers mail "to nearly 153 million addresses in every state, city and town in the country" (USPS, 2014).

Historical Background

The history of the USPS, as it has been pointed out on the agency's website, "is an ongoing story of enormous depth and breadth, rooted in a single, great principle; that every person in the United States -- no matter who, no matter where -- has the right to equal access to secure, efficient, and affordable mail service" (USPS, 2014). In colonial times, those who were mainly responsible, or helped in the delivery of mail, were merchants or friends. Essentially, it was not until 1639 that the very first postal service was formed. This came about due to the need for colonialists to dispatch mails to England - with the official overseas mail drop being Richard Fairbanks tavern, Boston. Slowly, a number of local authorities established distinct routes between specific jurisdictions/colonies. William Penn was the pioneer of the first official post office in 1683. It was situated in Pennsylvania. After the 1774 Boston riots that set the stage for the creation of an independent government, the Continental Congress was established, with Benjamin Franklin being elevated to the position of postmaster general a year later. As postmaster general, Franklin was in charge of operations at the newly established Post Office Department. During these early periods, mail was usually transported on horseback or by foot by carriers. Fast forward to the 1960s and there was need to enhance the efficiency of mail delivery operations. Part of the reforms adopted at the time led to the official renaming and rebranding of the Post Office Department to the United States Postal Service.

Global Dimensions and Diversity

With the world now being referred to as a global village, USPS has identified the need to partner with other Postal Services with operations in diverse locations across the world. One such partner is FedEx Express, whose business relationship with USPS is captured in the agency's Global Express Guaranteed service.

It is important to note that USPS, as per its own admission, values diversity. As it has been pointed out on its website, to the agency, "diversity means building an inclusive environment that respects the uniqueness of every individual and encourages the contributions of people from different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives" (USPS, 2014). The company's employees, therefore, are drawn from different backgrounds -- making its workforce one of the most diverse in the entire nation.

How Does USPS Operate?

USPS currently employs approximately 8 million people. These are the men and women who are responsible for delivery of billions of mail pieces across the nation every year. In seeking to describe how USPS operates, it would be prudent to, amongst other things, highlight the movement of a letter from collection to delivery. USPS highlights several steps a letter passes from collection to delivery. To begin with, we have collection, where postal carriers remove from the collection box all the letters and mails deposited by customers and destined for diverse addresses. Once they arrive at the post office, the said mails and letters are delivered to a mail processing plant. Next, we have culling and postmarking, a process that involves the separating of mail by certain characteristics (i.e. shape) and orienting letters. A machine then makes an impression of a postmark, indicating the date and place of sorting; with some cancellation lines also applied to ensure that the stamp is not recycled.

The next two processes are scanning and lifting of images, and application of barcode and sorting. With regard to the latter, individual mails get identified by a code and addresses are scanned using a special device. It is after this process is completed that a barcode is applied so as to allow for the letter to be sent "into a bin on the machine for a particular range of ZIP codes," which helps in the identification of the next processing plant (USPS, 2014). The letters and mails are then sorted so that mails in similar ZIP Code range are grouped together. It is after the letters (as per their appropriate ZIP Code range) arrive at their destination that they are sent out to the mail processing plants serving the center that that will deliver the letter. Here, letters are separated "for a specific ZIP Code from other letters in that ZIP Code range" using a barcode sorter (USPS, 2014). Before the eventual transportation to delivery post office, they are sorted to specific delivery carriers and order of delivery using a delivery barcode sorter. On being delivered to a center in which the carrier operates via a track, loads of mail are loaded into motor vehicles so as to be delivered to specific businesses or houses.

It should, however, be noted that there are numerous other services as well as products offered by the Postal Service that are beyond delivery. For instance, in addition to buying packaging, individuals could purchase stamps and postcards from the Postal Service. Now, it is also possible for individuals to make use of a Postal Service online platform that permits the personalized creation of greeting cards.

Power/Politics

Like any other entity operating in a competitive environment and engaging the services of people to help it to achieve its mandate, USPS does grapple with organizational power/politics. Organizational politics, according to Miles (as cited in John, 2002, p. 171), "is a process whereby differentiated but interdependent individuals or interest groups exercise whatever power they can amass to influence the goals, criteria, or processes used in organizational decision-making to advance their own interests." USPS manages organizational politics in a number of ways. A closer look at the agency's organizational culture reveals that employees are encouraged to speak out about issues that appear troublesome. Further, there is a particularly high level of consistency that can be observed in the way individual goals, interests, as well as behaviors are aligned with organizational objectives.

USPS' Response to Environment/Information

It is no secret that the paper mail market is shrinking. This is particularly the case with the rise of digital communications. USPS responds to its environment by fully adopting the concept of Kaizen, or continuous improvement. On this front, the agency seeks to adapt by, amongst other things, developing new ways of doing business. As it points out on its website, "the Postal Service is embracing innovation and encouraging the use of technologies that make mail more interactive and effective for customers" (USPS, 2014). This is particularly the case given the move to come up with new innovations such as Picture Permit Imprint Indicia and Intelligent Mail.