Thanking You in Advance!

Thanking You in Advance!
By Richard Green
NAPS Eastern Region Vice President

As all our front-line postmasters, managers, supervisors and support members work to prepare for another peak season, I want to take a moment before the chaos begins to say thank you for all you do and share how important each and every one of you are to the success of the United States Postal Service.

By overseeing logistics, managing personnel and solving unforeseen problems, managers, supervisors, postmasters and support personnel are the central organizers who keep the Postal Service running under immense seasonal pressure. The unseen work you accomplish during peak season is the most demanding and challenging time of the year for the USPS.

I want to take a moment to high-light and thank you for overcoming the challenges you will face and acknowledge your critical role in ensuring the success of the USPS this peak season. By overseeing logistics, managing personnel and solving unforeseen problems, managers, supervisors, postmasters and support personnel are the central organizers who keep the Postal Service running under immense seasonal pressure. The unseen work you accomplish during peak season is the most demanding and challenging time of the year for the USPS.

While mail carriers and clerks are the public face of the holiday rush, you are the glue that holds everything together. You operate behind the scenes, tackling complex challenges that are essential to the processing and delivery process.

Through your strategic planning, vision and leadership, you prepare and execute the peak season plan to ensure the success of the agency. You tackle complex challenges that are essential to the success of processing, delivery and logistics operations.

As I stated earlier, NAPS members across the country are intricately involved in the major planning, coordination and execution of peak season operations. Our members work across all functions of the USPS and ensure the following processes are accomplished to ensure a successful peak season:

-Forecasting volume that involves predicting the massive increase in letter and package volumes.
-Allocating resources that involves securing additional facilities, vehicles and temporary staff to ensure increased volumes are processed and delivered in a timely manner.
-Coordinating transportation by arranging ground and air transport to move billions of items across the country.
-Optimizing network operations to ensure a smooth flow of mail from processing plants to local delivery units, despite the increased strain of increased volumes in the network.

During peak season, NAPS members are on the front line adapting to daily surprises, challenges and high-stress situations. You are responsible for:

-Leading a growing workforce. Our members onboard, train and integrate thousands of seasonal employees, many of whom are new to the job. You effectively lead this larger, less-experienced team while maintaining efficiency.

-You are successful, even in the face of staffing shortages. Even with extra hiring, many offices remain un-derstaffed. You are called on and must push to fill critical roles and prevent burnout among your permanent staff who often are working extended hours and forgoing personal time.

- You tackle the unexpected. From unpredictable weather and equipment failures to last-minute rerouting needs, our members must quickly solve problems to keep the mail moving and their team members safe and engaged.

NAPS members across the country are responsible for building a foundation for success. Your work provides the stable environment that allows our teams to get their jobs done. By handling the planning, logistical, staffing and administrative strain, our members give their teams the best possible chance for a successful outcome.

Your dedication and commitment to delivering success for your teams and customers does not go unnoticed. I also understand you can become so focused on the mission that you can lose focus on other things that are just as important.

So, as you prepare for the season of significant challenges, I want to make sure you also focus on the health of your family and your team at work, as well as your personal health. This also goes a long way toward ensuring the success of your team!

To all our NAPS members across the country: When a letter or package arrives at your door, take a moment to reflect and appreciate the work of your teams and the extraordinary effort that makes it possible. Thank you for making this a successful peak season; keep up the great work.

Have a great holiday season and remember “the reason for the season!”

Leading into the future.