One of the numerous challenges facing today's mail center manager is the hiring, training and retention of good employees. Lets face it, some of the best employees that start in the mail center end up moving up the corporate ladder to another position with additional responsibilities within the same company and others move on. This may be good news for the one receiving the promotion, but turns into bad news for the mail center manager who must start over again with the selection, training and retention.

In a way, this is not fair to the mail center, being a training ground for other departments, but the old stereotype of a mail operation being a 'basement operation' is still too alive and well in corporate America. All too often, mail center managers are dealt new employees from personnel or human resources without the mail center manager being involved in the interviewing process.

A closer examination of mail center expenditures shows that many companies are spending very large sums of money through their postage meters, their shipping systems and with other carrier companies. Since the fall of 1999, over 500 customers have been sampled at the Pitney Bowes Mail Management Seminars. Findings show that on average, each of the mail center managers is responsible for more than $1 million in postage and other carrier expenditures. Additional research from these seminars tells us that accountability for these massive expenses is at times, very lax. That's one-half billion dollars from a very small sample of corporate America's mail centers! Someone needs to get hold of this massive disbursement! Corporate America is crying out for someone to tame this monstrous expense, and the mail center manager is the right person.

The problem is getting a handle on all of the multifaceted rules and regulations surrounding mail and expedited letters. The information is very complex. Just about the time a mail center manager trains an employee to understand these charges and manage them, the person is promoted or some other sort of turnover occurs. In addition to this, the problem can be compounded by today's low unemployment rates.

Corporate America must pose the following question: Who in our organization has responsibility for these large budgets and expenditures, yet is equipped with a low-paid workforce and experiences high turnover? Our findings again show that most the corporations assigning complete accountability to these departments offer higher salaries, liberal equipment budgets to manage the costs of all carriers and a staffing plan that includes promotions and recognition via bonuses or other forms of compensation, to those mail center employees who achieve certain goals. When employees have this kind of responsibility coupled with this type of compensation, turnover is reduced.

Another issue for the mail center managers is that the choice of candidates for staffing is typically decided for them leaving the managers out of the hiring process. Many departments do not understand the complicated functions in the mail center and believe quite simply that 'anyone' can move mail, therefore, just about anyone can work in a mail center. 

Mail center managers should be given influence over the interviewing and hiring decisions for their employees. No one understands better how well a prospective candidate will fit into an operation. Some of the most essential qualities for a successful mail center candidate match those qualities of much higher recognized positions within an organization. Qualities such as computer literacy for operating computers and managing carrier operations; initiative to act on one's own; motivation to present oneself enthusiastically and to take on additional projects; ability to assimilate new and sometimes complicated information, such as speaking "postalese" and understanding the USPS automation program; good judgement and decision-making skills; and building rapport to work as a team, establishing relationships with vendors, the United States Postal Service and other carriers.

These are just a few of the necessary elements for a successful mail operation to run at peak efficiency and reduced costs. There are many more aspects to consider, and corporations should team with their mail center managers to define the best attributes for mail center employees.

In today's fast-paced, cost-center-driven business environment, exchanging a cost center for a profit center is clearly the choice. With the right personnel, appropriate training and turnover at an acceptable yet managed level, our mail center managers can manage their company functions as a business and at a profit. Mail policy within an organization will educate all employees in a company. Formal policy for using the mail and overnight carriers can definitely get a controllable grip on the high cost of mailing and shipping. Improvement in past performance in this area can only be accomplished by the reduction of turnover and the retention of educated, well-trained mail service personnel.

Let's let the mail center managers of America be proactive in the hiring process. Give them the training they need to conduct successful interviews and allow them to participate. They know better than most the type of person that can help them manage the costs of mail and expedited package services. 

Denny Durst co-produces and presents the Pitney Bowes Mail Management Seminars for Pitney Bowes customers and employees at the company's education center in Peachtree City, Georgia. He is a certified postal consultant and a mailpiece quality control specialist. You can contact him at durstde@pb.com.