Crisis Corner: You've Got Mail...Somewhere
*Disclaimer: Our firm does not represent the U.S. Postal Service but is examining their communications response in our crisis series.
Have you ever read about a large, public crisis and wondered how you would have responded? Learn from our crisis communications team and join us each month as we break down real-life scenarios, walk through key insights and learn appropriate response tactics.
As we approach the most wonderful time of the year, Peritus is breaking down The U.S. Postal Service’s communication during the 2020 holiday season that left many of us dreaming of an updated tracking status, and exploring its efforts to regain Americans’ trust over the past year.
13,000,000,000. Yes, that is billion with a B. It is also the number of letters and packages last holiday season that kept our postal workers up at night wondering how they were going to tackle holiday demand and stay off the naughty list. The unfortunate combination of the Postmaster’s cost-cutting measures and increased holiday shipping volume resulted in in widespread shipping delays from the North Pole (aka Postal System).
It was reported that USPS and private companies like FedEx and UPS were failing to pick up an estimated six million packages on time per day during the 2020 holiday season. Delivery workers weren’t overdoing the eggnog but were struggling to keep up with the demands, working longer hours and dodging COVID exposures.
Image Source: FOX 59
Challenge
WHO: The U.S. Postal Service (USPS)
WHAT: The 2020 holiday season left millions of Americans feeling Scrooged with widespread delayed packages who were longing for yuletide mail
WHEN: Holiday 2020
WHERE: Your Mailbox and Front Porch
WHY: Following pandemic operational challenges, there were disappointed customers nationwide waiting on delayed mail
Response
As national news began picking up this story and escalating public sentiment, Kim Frum, a USPS public relations rep, released a statement outlining the delay factors, but failed to recognize the frustrations or express empathy for those impacted by the crisis.
Loss of trust. By the end of the 2020 holiday season, Americans were left feeling the holiday blues due to unmet expectations, and many began losing hope in a company that was previously regarded as one of the most trusted brands.
New year, new resolutions. In February of 2021, Postmaster DeJoy (consider him the Santa Claus of the postal service) reported to Congress that USPS was "in a death spiral” citing billions in losses. DeJoy has continued to own up to the fiasco and recognized “they were overwhelmed and not able to meet the demands of the nation” and has made a public commitment to steady the ship.
To walk the talk, DeJoy unveiled a controversial 10-year plan for the Postal Service to combat troubleshooting delivery times and mounting debt, but that will come with a cost to key stakeholders (raising rates and cutting post offices' hours) and face some pushback from those looking for a quick fix.
Recently, USPS leadership has invited key media for a sneak peek at Santa’s workshop, offering interviews and allowing cameras into their sorting facilities to showcase operational upgrades in preparation for this year’s holiday demand.
The good news? It may be time to “add to cart” with cautious optimism. USPS has added dozens of package-sorting machines and claim their team can process an additional 4.5 million parcels — an 18% increase — a day. It also has promised to hire 40,000 seasonal workers.
Takeaways
How would a reasonable person expect USPS to respond? USPS knew many of its loyal customers lost hope in their dependability, so the organization worked around the clock to make necessary adjustments for the 2021 holiday season.
Choose the least bad option. When looking for an action plan following the nightmare before Christmas, USPS had three choices:
Do nothing
Do something small
Do something big
Go big or go home. Luckily, USPS chose to go big. Postmaster DeJoy needed the judgment and self-control to choose the best option to improve USPS’s operational reputation. He chose the ideal approach despite its unattractiveness. His aggressive 10-year “fix it” plan will come at a cost, but should return our packages to reliable “on time arrivals” by 2023 (unlike Santa’s deliveries, these changes don’t happen overnight).
Leverage resources. Having 630,000 employees in its arsenal (fun fact: this is the second largest civilian workforce behind Walmart), USPS needs to share improvements regularly beyond traditional media interviews and take better advantage of its direct customer access through its half a million workforce, 30,000+ post offices and 350 mail sorting facilities.
Power of internal comms. We will give USPS internal employee communications a pat on the back during the 2020 holiday season chaos. When dealing with a public crisis, employees’ needs can sometimes be overlooked or deprioritized. However, Postmaster DeJoy is a natural communicator and was delivering weekly messages to employees throughout the pandemic. A simple step in leadership is listening and understanding frustrations of both customers and employees, which can help strengthen attempts for “how we move forward.”
Overall, it seems like USPS is doing as well as it can (let’s remember we are dealing with a government entity which is set up with more bureaucratic layers). It is proactively trying to slow down, look inward, and identify not only operational improvements, but face the nation and attempt to move back on the nice list.
You may not be trying to deliver 13 billion packages before the holidays, but chances are external factors outside your control have faced your company this past year. It’s not about the bad things that happen to our organizations, but what we do next. Remember, this means we must have the judgment and self-control to respond and restore trust with stakeholders essential to our success.