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Do You Know Where You Are Going?

Do You Know Where You Are Going?
By Chuck Mulidore
NAPS Executive Vice President

In the classic C.S. Lewis tale “Alice in Wonderland,” the mysterious Cheshire Cat has this exchange with a somewhat disoriented Alice who says, “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where,” responded Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

That exchange often has been paraphrased to a more simplistic: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road can take you there.” So, let’s see if we can make the connection between those words and the current state of our Postal Service.

Mail service continues its decline across the country as the “Delivering for America” plan, heralded by the PMG, rolls out at an ever-faster pace, particularly with the massive overhauling of the mail processing network. Thus, one can wonder if the USPS really knows where it is going.

We know there are new Regional Processing and Delivery Centers opening or planned to open in the future. We also know that new Sorting and Delivery Centers are opening; more will open over the next year or more. And we know the Postal Service has faced increasing pressure from the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Office of Inspector General, mailers and other postal stakeholders to be more transparent in this unfolding process.

Perhaps most important, however, is now the American people are asking, “What is going on at the Post Office?” There have been multiple news stories across the nation about delayed mail, medicines not being delivered and, in many cases, mail not being delivered for days.

Finally, as frustrated Americans seek more than cursory answers from postal officials, they have turned to their U.S. representatives and senators for answers. Sadly, those elected officials have become ever more frustrated, as well, with a recalcitrant senior postal leadership class that refuses to provide answers or transparency—even to them.

A Texas congressman relayed to me a few weeks ago at a meeting in his office that a postal spokesperson told him the USPS provides only good news to the public—not information that would alert them to changes that could negatively affect their service! That is the very antithesis of transparency by not alerting the public that postal consolidations and realignments could impact the service to the very customers who support the U.S. Postal Service.

This lack of transparency with the public leads to distrust, misinformation and, ultimately, customers finding alternatives to the Postal Service. I once was told by a senior USPS executive many years ago—again, I paraphrase—that price gets the business, but service keeps the business.

So, in an era of rising postal prices, large revenue losses and declining service, once again, we must wonder, “Does the USPS really know where it is going?” For those of us who invested decades working for and supporting the Postal Service, this is a hard truth.

As the Cheshire Cat reminds us, if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.