Update: Congressman Ross has responded. Sort of…

Congressman Dennis Ross didn’t like it when Democrats supposedly tried to “scare seniors” by telling them the truth about GOP plans to eliminate Medicare or default on debt payments, but he apparently thinks it’s OK to try to scare postal employees and retirees:

Note to USPS current & future retirees – This is what happens when u don’t prefund future pension & retirement benefits bit.ly/rbDerg

— Dennis Ross (@RepDennisRoss) September 7, 2011

The story he links to is about the infamous City of Prichard, Alabama, which stopped paying pensions to its retirees in 2009. It’s a shocking story, but its relevance to the USPS is nonexistent. Congressman Ross, like his colleague Darrell Issa, tends to forget that the USPS has socked away $42.5 billion for future retiree benefits under PAEA, not to mention the $50-75 billion in Civil Service overcharges that everyone except Darrell & Dennis seem to understand are owed to the USPS and its customers.

Dennis’s tweet also raises the interesting question of what he thinks is going to happen to other federal retirees, including veterans- after all, Congress has provided exactly zero prefunding dollars for them- should we assume they’re going to end up like the Prichard retirees? Wouldn’t that be an even bigger problem than the postal “crisis” he and Darrell have been ranting about?

From Postcom:

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NALC Talking Points on Postal Finances

Let’s see- we’ve had Process Management, Lean Six Sigma, the “Office of Continuous Improvement”, and who knows how many Franklin Planners and copies of “Who Moved My Cheese” gathering dust- what’s next? DRIVE! (“Delivering Results, Innovation, Value and Efficiency”) Today’s USPS News Link describes the new effort to “improve the development and execution of major business strategies”, which it says will help the USPS accomplish things like “executive transparency”. Imagine that- invisible managers!

Here’s the USPS announcement:

As the relentless reduction of mail volume continues — fueled primarily by the continuing decline of First-Class Mail — USPS continues to look for ways to more effectively manage its challenges and to forge effective solutions for the future.

This process begins at the top of the Postal Service’s leadership, which has been working since earlier this summer on a new effort called “Delivering Results, Innovation, Value and Efficiency” (DRIVE).

Administered by the Postal Service’s Strategic Planning department, the DRIVE process is based on a well-established methodology used by many corporations to improve the development and execution of major business strategies. The version of DRIVE the Postal Service has created is centered on a set of 36 strategic initiatives, each guided by a senior USPS executive and supported by a cross-functional team of subject-expert managers. The ambitious initiatives — ranging from network optimization to executive transparency — include cost cutting, revenue generation, and capability enhancement necessary for the organization’s success.

Development of the DRIVE process has been on a fast track. “Now that we’ve established the portfolio of initiatives, it’s time to focus on execution,” said Director, Strategic Planning Emil Dzuray. “Each initiative is guided by a set of Roadmaps — high-level plans teams will use to guide implementation and chart progress.”

Dzuray says the USPS leadership expects concrete results in each of the 36 initiatives. Some initiatives may take years to complete, but progress in others could take place before the end of the year.

“We work in a dynamic and competitive environment,” said Dzuray. “It’s vitally important that we tap the resources and experience of this organization to improve the way we execute key business strategies. The DRIVE process is designed to help us achieve these goals.”

DRIVE appears to have originated in, of all places, the state of New Mexico’s Motor Vehicle Division, which announced the program last year as part of a plan to close some of its offices, and curtail hours at others:

The New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division today announced that it will permanently close its Cottonwood Mall branch in Albuquerque and redeploy the 15 employees to other city offices to maintain service levels to customers.

“We have to run MVD leaner and smarter in the face of smaller budgets,” said Rick Homans, Cabinet Secretary of the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department. “While we may be reducing the number of state-run offices, we are developing many more online capabilities and encouraging our private partners to expand their operations.”

Michael Sandoval, director of the MVD, also announced that MVD will be closing all state-run offices at 3:30 p.m. instead of 4 p.m. – effective July 6 – to avoid $105,000 in annual overtime costs.

These initiatives are part of a larger program, DRIVE MVD (Delivering Results, Innovation, Value and Efficiency) that will provide a multi-year focus on improved customer service and providing different and practical options to New Mexicans when dealing with MVD.

Closing offices and cutting back hours in order to improve customer service- sound familiar?

(Update: Given how quickly management fads come and go, I checked to see how long DRIVE lasted at the New Mexico MVD- the first mention of the program was in December 2009. The last was just four months later, in April 2010. This despite the description of the program as a “multi-year focus on improved customer service”. Any bets how long it will last in the USPS?)

DRIVE

via USPS News Link – Sept 7, 2011.

Carper Says USPS Should Encourage Workers to Retire – The Washington Post.