April 23, 2008

 

South Jersey District

Cluster Commendables

 

 

The “Good News” Newsletter for

  Delaware and South Jersey Employees

 

I love Smyrna !

 

Smyrna, DE, Postmaster Diana Hurd and Supervisor Customer Services Rich Friess saw an opportunity to inform local residents of USPS products and services. The duo set up an informational kiosk at the recent I Love Smyrna School District Day, held at Smyrna High School . They were able to provide information to everyone who stopped by on such topics as passports, Carrier Pickup, the USPS/eBay partnership as well as the upcoming USPS price flexibility. They also secured some wonderful Business Connect leads to help their office – and USPS – continue to grow the business into the future.

 

 

 

Postmaster Diana Hurd (left) and Retail Associate Loretta Norman-Legette share a light moment

with a local student who stopped by their information table.

 

 

 

 

 

150 years of safe driving

 

Over 150 years of combined driving skills were present as the district recently presented the National Safety Council's Million Mile Award to five Clementon , NJ Post Office employees. The million mile award is given to those individuals who have driven 30 years, or one million miles, without an accident. When asked by District Manager Joanna Korker to share some tips on safe driving, the employees were quick to reply back. "Go slowly. Take your time. Remember, safety first," said Letter Carrier Jack Warsing. Another letter carrier, Clint Hinchman, had his own opinion. "Always check your mirrors and be aware of your surroundings."

 

 

 

From left to right are Vehicle Operations Maintenance Assistant (VOMA) Keith Waters, Letter Carriers Harry Jackel, Jack Warsing, Custodian Rick Leech & Letter Carrier Clint Hinchman.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Partnering with local schools

 

Post Offices hold a special mystique for youngsters.  Two Post Offices joined with local schools to host fun events for the wee ones. Atlantic City , NJ Post Office invited a nearby Head start class to come and tour the facility.  Supervisor Customer Services Maryanne Matusewicz led the children through the cavernous building. She showed them how mail for their home is cased by their letter carrier early each morning before it is eventually delivered to their home.

 

Waterford Works, NJ, Postmaster Sheila Whelan recently held a Design a Stamp Contest with students of the Shirley B. Foster Elementary School in Chesilhurst , NJ . Students in grades kindergarten though grade 2 released their artistic abilities and designed their own stamps. To celebrate Black History, Grades 3 – 6 designed a tribal mask.  All of the designs were displayed in the Waterford Works Post Office lobby where customers voted on the top designs. Whelan was invited to attend International Day at the school, where she presented awards to the winners of the contest. A special guest was Spot News, the Courier Post newspaper mascot, who Whelan invited to the festivities.

 

 

                                                     

 

 

Supervisor Customer Services Maryanne Matusewicz (left photo in fro nt row, holding child in pink) gave Head start students a tour of the Atlantic City facility. Waterford Works Postmaster Sheila Whelan (bottom photo, on left) joins local mascot, Spot News, to present an award to a school contest winner.

 

 

 

 

 

A celebration at the USS New Jersey

 

The Camden , NJ , Post Office, along with the Battleship New Jersey Museum , hosted a special cancellation to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the historic ship’s re-commissioning at the Philadelphia Navel Shipyard in 1968.  The office offered free envelopes to visitors and had stamps available for purchase so attendees could have them postmarked in the ship’s ward room on the main deck. 

 

The New Jersey was overhauled at the naval yard on the Delaware River across from Camden in 1968 for the Vietnam War. It opened to visitors on the Camden Waterfront in 2001, a year after the Navy donated it as a museum to a nonprofit group based in South Jersey .

 

Camden postal employees will again visit the ship May 23 with a different postal cancellation to mark the 65th anniversary of the ship's original commissioning, also at the Navy Yard. The New Jersey was commissioned on May 23, 1943 , for combat in World War II in the Pacific. It also fought in the Korean War in the 1950s and the Beirut Crisis in 1983, becoming the most decorated U.S. battleship, with 19 campaign stars by its last decommissioning in 1991.

 

"The Battleship New Jersey is excited to work with the Camden Post Office, and it's a great way for us to commemorate these important anniversaries," said Jack Willard, vice president of marketing for the Battleship New Jersey Memorial and Museum. Willard said the museum is reopening the ship's Post Office as part of a new city-at-sea tour route that will be offered in the late spring. He said he hopes that tour route will be ready in time for postal employees to use the Post Office on board for the May 23 event.

 

 

 

Left to right –Retail Associate Cathy Branch, philatelic collectors Ron Reeves and Harry Kaplan, Acting Supervisor Customer Services Gladys Fussel
 

 

 

Retail Associate Cathy Branch (left) postmarks envelopes with the special cancellation as Acting

Supervisor Gladys Fussel looks on.
 

 

 

 

Growing the business

 

The newly formed Business Development Team (BDT) recently helped Wilmington , DE small business owners grow their business as well as help USPS grow its business. The event, held at a local hotel, drew approximately 50 participants who learned how to grow their business through the use of Direct Mail.  Business owners were then given one-on-one assistance in creating and mailing their own Direct Mail campaign. BDT Manager Chris King stated, “This workshop was a great way to meet with small business owners and provide them with the tools needed to be more successful in gaining new customers as well as building relationships with their existing customers.”  A similar Grow Your Business Day will be held on May 7^th at the Bellmawr, NJ district administrative offices, 501 Benigno Boulevard .  For more information on Direct Mail, go to www.usps.com/directmail.

 

 

 

Small Business Specialist Darin Baratti (on left) assists several small business owners as they design their own postcard mailing.
 

 

 

 

Greenwich, NJ, Postmaster Mary Cash (far left)

asks for audience participation in designing a sample postcard.  “Customers saw how easy it was to design their own Direct Mail postcards from the comfort of their own home or business.  What surprised them the most was the affordability of using our online services,” said Cash.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dynamic duo

 

We’re at every door, every day. That’s our competitive advantage when it comes to our ground services — Parcel Select and Parcel Return Service. We already go the distance, first mile and last mile. New pricing that begins May 12 will help us grow this shipping business. 

 

Parcel Select and Parcel Return Service are the perfect fit for the age of Internet shopping. In the first year, only 13 million Parcel Select packages were dropped off at Post Offices. But last year, that number was 180 million. And more recently, customer returns are booming. The fastest growing part of the U.S. package market is returned or recycled products.

 

With Parcel Select, our business partners — including our traditional competitors like FedEx, UPS and DHL — pick up packages from large retailers. They transport and deposit these packages at a Bulk Mail Center or Post Office near the customer’s address. From there, our carriers deliver them the last mile to their destination.

 

Then there’s Parcel Return Service. It’s picking up packages from the customer’s residence – the first mile – and taking them back to the Post Office. From there, our business partners pick them up and transport them back to the merchant.

 

In addition to returns there are three other parts to this “first mile” shipping that also have plenty of revenue potential — recycling, repairs and recalls. Nobody can pick up merchandise better than we can.            Parcel Return Service is the easiest way for consumers to send back merchandise — and that gives us a big advantage that none of our competitors can match.

 

We’ll use our new pricing freedom to create incentives that reward our business partners for going with us for the first mile and last mile.

 

You can help by being knowledgeable about these products. When our business partners show up at the back dock, remember, they’re bringing us business — packages that we make money on. Scanning is crucial.

 

Under the new postal law, we need to make money on our competitive products. Parcel Select makes us a good profit. So does Parcel Return Service. With new pricing, the revenue from our dynamic duo has the potential to soar!