The USPS Shines at the National Postal Forum

The USPS Shines at the National Postal Forum
By Jimmy Warden
NAPS Secretary/Treasurer

In May, I had the pleasure, along with Ivan and Chuck, to once again attend the National Postal Forum held this year in Phoenix. The forum is a yearly event where mailers and companies whose businesses are affiliated in any way with the mailing industry attend, as well as Postal Service officials.

One of the purposes is for the Postal Service to meet and hear from the mailing customers, as well as attendees to hear from the Postal Service regarding upcoming initiatives. It also gives NAPS the opportunity to network with postal officials and attend their presentations.

I found this year’s forum to be much more positive and upbeat than some of those I attended in the past. We attended two sessions held by Postmaster General David Steiner. In one session, his message was that he believes in the Postal Service and improvements have been seen.

Steiner also mentioned he has spoken and will continue to speak to members of Congress regarding changes to help the Postal Service be more financially stable going into the future. Steiner also held a question-and-answer session.

We attended a workshop titled, “How Public Policy Affects Your Business.” The workshop highlighted pending postal reform proposals in Congress (including legislation to improve the investment of USPS pension funds) and explored ways mailing industry leaders can interact with their members of Congress, as well as postal industry advocates in Washington, to strengthen the agency and improve the business outlook of the entire mailing industry.

It was a very interesting topic! It also was very interesting this year as the three silos being Delivery, Mail Processing and Logistics did not have separate presentations. The three vice presidents were together on stage doing one presentation and interacting with each other.

I bumped into an old friend — Dennis Farley — who is on the National Postal Forum Board of Directors. I first met Dennis years back in New York. He worked with the mailing industry and oversaw such periodicals as ESPN The Magazine and Women’s Wear Daily, a major daily newspaper in the fashion world.

In reminiscing with Dennis, he mentioned this year’s forum had the largest registration ever, with over 5,000 registrants. He also said the forum had the largest number ever of vendors participating in the exhibit hall.

Great news and participation for the National Postal Forum!

Sitting at the same table with folks from the mailing industry during lunch periods, the conversations all were positive regarding the Postal Service. It was good to hear so many still believe in the agency for price and reliability.

Ivan and I were invited to attend the Washington, DC, Postal Customer Council (PCC) meet and greet with Steiner. This gave us the opportunity to speak with customers on the council from the DC area, as well as speak with Steiner.

On Wednesday, we attended the forum’s Partnership Recognition Luncheon. This was a special seating event that recognized best-in-class USPS partnerships from across all postal areas.

Winners were:

• Mailer of the Year — Progressive

• Mail Service Provider of the Year — Postal Central International (PCI)

• Ground Advantage Shipper of the Year — Walgreens

• Shipping Innovator of the Year — Kohl’s

• Transportation Carrier of the Year — J.B. Hunt

• Supplier of the Year — Intralox

We also attended the unveiling of the new Route 66 forever stamp.

I was quite impressed with this year’s National Postal Forum. If the Postal Service is to thrive into the future, we must believe in ourselves to make it succeed. America depends on us!

Next year’s forum will be in Orlando, FL, May 16-19.

And remember, increasing membership demonstrates leadership!

Stay safe.