@ServiceAward wrote:
I've been able to piece together a few things that may give us a glimpse as to what, if anything, is to come.
The USPS is, as already noted, is bleeding money. They are shifting their focus to shipping more packages via ground and doing that more efficiently. This is why ground service was revamped a while back and rebranded as Ground Advantage. The advantage is that you can get Priority Mail shipping speed for closer zones (seems to be 1-4) and get tracking and insurance, all for less than the traditional Priority Mail price. Although prices increased across most services in January, the greatest increase was for airmail services (i.e. Priority and PME). For the last 20 years, FedEX has provided the air services for Priority and PME. USPS is not renewing their contract with FedEX and, instead, will be going with UPS to fly Priority, PME, and first-class mail across the country. Undoubtedly UPS was able to make the numbers work for USPS. Still, the plan is for USPS to not promote Priority Mail and PME for most shipments, instead relying on Ground Advantage now that they have re-worked their ground routes.
What does all that mean for the program? I'm glad you asked! The program heavily emphasized the promotion of Priority Mail. That's now obsolete as USPS shifts away from Priority. At a minimum, the program will need to be significantly revamped and shift more toward the customer service experience. However, the USPS already has a well-implemented way to gain insight from customers through the POS survey. I can't find any stats on the conversion rate is of getting customers to take the survey, but it is possible they are getting enough data though that to make the mystery shopper program null. Additionally, the USPS also does their own internal audits, which evaluate many of the customer service points that were a part of the mystery shopper program.
My conclusion is this: The program is dead - permanently - or at least until the USPS stops bleeding money. Even with the shopper program was with the other company, the survey heavily hit on upselling customers to generate revenue. I found some documents from a decade ago that discussed this. Hence, the upsell to Priority and emphasis on selling cards, boxes, etc. They finally realized they were not making any money - or even breaking - so I have deiced to hone in on giving customers more value for their money. The USPS can now ship packages via ground destined for nearby zones as fast or faster than FedEx and UPS, all for a less price, but still with tracking and insurance. With the shift toward ground, HazMat, though still important, not as important as it once was. I actually noticed a change recently. I shop a lot of liquids, perfume, cosmetics, chemicals, etc. I always mark my packages well, even if it is a small amount. I was told Saturday that I no longer needed to mark the packages, if the products only had a small amount of hazardous materials in them, as long as it was going ground.
I cannot see a need for the mystery shopping program any longer. Plus, it will allow them to cut a few million out of their budget every year. As for why it would end mid-way through the fiscal year, maybe there was a breach on one end or the other. More than likely, there was probably some termination clause. Let's say the contract was up last year, maybe they shifted to a quarter by quarter extension, just long enough to implement the changes they have done over the past 6 months.
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