Getting Involved with Your Local PCC Can Drive Connections and Growth

On Aug. 29, the Greater Portland Postal Customer Council (GPPCC) — the local chapter of the national Postal Customer Council (PCC) program — held its annual Mailers & Shippers conference, bringing together local printers, direct mail companies, brands, and USPS executives to talk about mailing and shipping, network, and gain insights from a host of educational sessions.

The PCC program is a great way for printers and mailing and fulfillment operations to connect with one another, the USPS, and with brands looking to deepen their knowledge base and improve their mailing and shipping processes. There are PCC chapters located around the country, so it is absolutely worth checking to see where the closest one to your operation is, and see about joining to make connections, network, and help educate your customers and potential customers on printing and mailing best practices.

The GPPCC event was a full day event packed with educational sessions, providing something for everyone in attendance. Here are just a few of the highlights from those sessions.

A Changing Postal Service

Juan Nadal, the vice president of strategic sales for the United States Postal Service (USPS), started off the day as a guest speaker, taking a closer look at how the USPS is evolving and changing.

While he mostly focused on the packages side of the USPS, one thing he said struck a cord: “A package isn’t always just a shipment or package — it’s a promise.” And while that was aimed at those shipping items rather than sending mail, it still resonates because every piece a brand sends out is a promise of some kind. That statements will be delivered on time and accurate. That information is correct. That sales or deals will be valid when the recipient gets them. Mail is a connection and promise, not just a transaction.

Nadal focused on the changes the USPS has made over the past few years to ensure it will still be around for many generations to come, including streamlining how it handles mail and packages, crating a single stream for everything, and looking to take friction out of the system.

He did acknowledge that there have been some pain points along the way, but noted that they are seeing constant improvements as the changes spread out and new updates are introduced and streamlined. In particular, he noted the USPS is focused on their Sorting & Delivery Centers, which currently reach 18.5 million people in the United States out of 123 facilities, with another 25 expected to come online in this calendar year.

“We are concentrating operations in fewer, larger, and more centrally located S&DCs,” he noted, which long term will mean faster, more reliable mail for everyone. In particular, he noted that most people he talks to are less concerned with the specific amount of time mail will take to arrive, and more concerned that it gets there when they say it will. As an example, he said, if they’re told four-day delivery, that’s fine, but it absolutely needs to get there in four days or less. Consistency and meeting those delivery promises are the primary focus as the USPS works to modernize.

Another key initiative he stressed is looking to make the entire system more efficient. “The most expensive thing to ship is air,” he noted, and sending out trucks even partially full just adds cost and time to the mailing and shipping process. One of the goals of the modernization push is to ensure trucks are filled before leaving the post office to their next destination, without jeopardizing those promised time frames. The postal system is looking to create a more reliable, efficient, and steady stream of mail that flows through the system, rather than a lot of starts and stops.

There is still a long way to go to get to where they want to be, but the USPS is confident in the roadmap they have to get them to the future. They just celebrated the 250^th anniversary of the USPS this year, and now they are focused on planning for the next 250 years.

Remote Leadership

One session of note was led by Zach Bowden, director of postal logistics and data processing at Portland-based Direct Marketing Solutions, and the Co-Chair of the local PCC chapter. His session was “Leadership and Management in a Remote Workforce,” focused on helping attendees better recruit and manage personnel in an increasingly remote environment. He noted that roughly 1/3 of workers today — and yes, even in the print and mailing industry — are either fully remote or working a hybrid schedule, which brings its own challenges in ensuring not only that work is getting done, but also maintaining connections between managers and employees, as well as between the employees themselves.

He had a lot of great information, with a few tips for those struggling to find their footing in this new workplace reality:

• Regular check-ins are critical. It doesn’t have to be daily — and in fact, daily could be counter-productive as many remote workers report being drowned in meetings. Rather, make sure there is a regular opportunity for even just a quick check-in to make sure employees have everything they need. He noted that sometimes those could go a full hour if they have a lot to discuss and work through, but other employees could be as short as a minute if there isn’t anything new. But the key is to make sure you’re having regular contact with them so they know they aren’t alone.
• In a similar vein, group meetings are important to ensure employees can connect and collaborate with one another. Bowden noted that early in the pandemic, he was one of the “cameras optional” people. But over the years he has become a “cameras on” person, noting that it creates more of a sense of being together, and allows everyone to feel more engaged. It’s all too easy to get distracted with other things if the camera is off, after all, but having it on means everyone is fully present.
• The right software is also critical, Bowden noted. Having a place where the team can come together to collaborate, share ideas, ask questions, and more is a key component of making remote and hybrid structures work. That could be Teams, Slack, or any one of a number of different platforms designed to bring employees together.
• Don’t forget about yourself. Bowden notes that with all those team meetings and check-ins, it can be hard to get anything else done. He stresses it is important to block out focus time where you can work without interruptions as well. And encourage employees to do the same, so they have guaranteed time where they can just put their heads down and work on their projects without worrying about needing to start and stop.
• Finally, trust can’t be overstated. Bowden pointed out that managers need to be able to trust their employees. He does point out that he always trusts until he’s given a reason not to, but in the end, without trust, remote and hybrid just won’t work. “We have to trust our employees,” he stressed. “I don't want anyone on my team that I can't trust, I don't want any of my team members to not trust me, and I certainly don't want any people that I report to not trust me. And if you do have someone on your team that you don't trust, maybe they're not on the right team.”

Leading in Challenging Times

Another great session that focused on leadership from a different angle was given by Jim Burns, senior operations manager at Massachusetts General Hospital. One of the guest speakers brought in for the event, he walked attendees through his more than 30 years of printing and mailing experience, and what he has learned about leadership while operating a hospital in-plant in Boston through some very challenging times, including 9/11, the Boston Marathon Bombing, COVID, and even blizzards and hurricanes.

One thing he has found through his career is that it is important to lead through collaboration. That especially when a crisis pops up — it doesn’t have to be on the level of natural disasters or terrorism, even just every-day business situations where things don’t go quite to plan — one person alone can’t fix everything or get things back on track. It takes a team all working together to be successful, and managing and leading where people are given a voice means that when things get rough, everyone is in a position to step up and help solve the problems.

Part of that is also being present, he stressed. Through some of the worst crisis’ that his team faced, he pointed out that he was right there on the ground with them, not just making decisions, but helping do the grunt work, and pitching in wherever he could. Being present in a crisis, he notes, means his team “had a new appreciation” for him outside of that situation, and were more likely to work with him in the future. It also meant they were more comfortable brining problems to him before they could become a crisis, letting him be more proactive about managing his department and his team.

Finally, like Bowden pointed out with focus time, Burns noted that work-life balance is important to keep in mind. If you’re going to be present for your team and be the leader they need when things go sideways, you need to take care of yourself physically and mentally in the good times when everything is working smoothly. Whether that’s hobbies, vacations, spending time with the family, whatever your version of down time is, be sure to carve out time in the busy day-to-day operations to take care of yourself so you have all the resources you need when you need them.

And this was just a taste of what the day had for attendees this year. Local PCC chapters across the country have their own monthly meetings, as well as annual events such as the Mailers and Shippers conference. Every printer that handles mail in any capacity would be well-served to get involved with these communities to help promote the power of mail, and ensure it remains as strong tomorrow as it is today.