Edward J. Gleiman 

Remarks before the 

DMA Governmental AfTairs Conference 

May 16,1995 

Since DMA is one of those groups that used to talk to me before I had a fancy title and 

upscale ZIP code, I didn't hesitate when Jonah called me earlier this yeai to ask me to participate 

in this year's Government Affairs Conference. Having been a luncheon speaker last year, I was all 

ready to step into the lime light with a keynote address. 

It wasn't until after I accepted his invitation, however, that Jonah told me I would be& a 

panelist during the General Session of the Conference this year. When I protested this treatment, 

Jonah suggested that, if I didn't do a better job with the reclassification case than I had done with 

the last rate case, I might find myself relegated to one of those afternoon, concurrent sessions next 

year. 

As the swing vote between the two Commission factions-which I hear some of you 

thought the new movie "Dumb and Dumber" was all about-Jonah's admonition got me to 

thinkin' that I might have found a foolproof way of cutting down on my fbture speaking schedule! 

In all seriousness, it is, as always, a pleasure to have an opportunity to share my thoughts 

on postal matters with you and to learn from you-so that I can do better at my job. And, oh, by 

the way, I was just kidding about being the swing vote. 

When I asked Dick Barton what the advertised title of this session-"Perspectives on a 

Government-Run Postal Service"-meant, he explained that we were supposed to talk about what 

needed to be done if the answer to the question posed by the title of the first panel--"Should the 

Postal Service be Sold to the Highest Bidder?"-was NO. 

Well I have thought about this quite a bit. I have concluded that almost anything I say will 

be perceived as combative, arrogant and petulant, sour grapes-and, that's without even trying! 

Probably, the less I say the better!-But you know me! 

So let me put it fairly succinctly: If you're gonna talk the talk, you had better be able to 

walk the walk! 

Well, just WHAT am I talking about? 

For starters, let's look at the three "P"s that keep popping up in speeches that folks from 

over at L'Enfant Plaza give-Personnel, Prices and Products. 

Did you know that the Postal Service has PERSONNEL today than it did before the 

1992 downsizing? 
Did you know that Total Factor Productivity was DOWN in 1994-and is down so far in 

1995? That historically, TFP is usually up at the USPS only when there is a hiring freeze or 

layoffs? And, that's after an investment in automation of what, 10 billion dollars? 

Did you know that many of those work rules folks rail about are not in statute, but are 

established administratively or through bargaining-such as the 20-plus year-old "tech and mech" 

clause in the labor contract, which was at the heart of the costly decision to bring remote video 

encoding back in house? If Bill Henderson were still here, I would tell liim there are lots of areas 

within management's control. 

Did you know that [during the last decade] in the foreign arena-the example the Postal 

Service uses to show how they could compete domestically, if given flexibility on prices and 

products-volume has been growing only one third that of domestic volume; and the per piece 

contribution to institutional cost (or profit, if you will) for foreign is down about 17 percent, while 

the contribution is 60 percent per piece for domestic mail? (And that all us domestic mailers 

are picking up the slack?) By the way, some of you successfkl business people ought to tell the 

USPS that freedom and new products does not necessarily equal success! That's why we have 

chapters seven and eleven! And, that's why some products get withdrawn! 

Did you know that during the last fifteen months-at least-the Postal Service has not 

submitted a single proposal for a new product or service to the Postal Rate Commission-to see if 

we MIGHT be able to move more quickly than our current abbreviated five month rules call for? 

By the way, for those of you who may have read about the postal governors telling the new 

House subcommittee that the Express Mail rules we just reissued were worthless, well-you 

should know that we did 

what other "worthless" proposals they've asked us to consider! 

what the Service asked us to---Makes me wonder, sometimes, 

And, finally, did you know that, when the Postal Service was wringing its collective hands 

because of financial problems last year, the Postal Rate Commission completed its work in record 

time-without being asked to do so. Actually, since the PMG likes to point out that the law 

allows more time for a rate case than it takes to have a baby, I should note that we completed our 

work on R94-1 in a bit LESS than a full human gestation period. 

The Postal Service, on the other hand, has taken the equivalent of almost seven 

consecutive human gestation periods (since the father of reclassification Charlie McBride was 

hired away from the PRC) to deliver the first installment of what has evolved into a multiple birth 

reclassification effort? 

Oh, and this reminds me, I must tell you that I am delighted with the "financial 

management miracle" officials at L'Enfant Plaza have been reporting for the past several 

weeks-a billion in the black and rising (maybe). I think we should give credit where credit is 

- due. 

2 
- So, would you all like to take a moment and pat yourselves on the back at this time-and, check 

you_~ wallets? It's those higher rates YOU'VE been paying since January 1 and the higher than 

anticipated "post-rate increase" volumes that YOU'VE been putting into the system that got'm 

where they is!!! 

Back to the purpose of this session-what do I think the Postal Service must do to 

survive-I've said it before-They have got to CONTROL COSTS and DELIVER THE 

PROMISED SERVICE. And, they ought to be looking within, to deal properly, with what is in 

their control. OR, as I said earlier, "if they're going to talk the talk, they've got to show they can 

walk the walk!" 

Now, one last item, there is a great deal of talk about legislating on the Postmaster 

General's three "P"s. 

If you will permit me a "Gumpism"-my Mommy never said it, and I know some of the 

young'ns in the postal community don't believe it, BUT "the legislation process IS like a box of 

chocolates, you never know what you're going to get!" Perhaps some of you old timers can tell 

them about the time, many years ago, when there was a Kappel Commission Report, a House bill 

AND a Senate and then, out of the blue, in a conference committee came-the PRC! 

3 
Edward J. Gleiman 

Remarks before the 

DMA Governmental Affairs Conference 

May 16,1995 

Since DMA is one of those groups that used to talk to me before I had a fanq title and 

upscale ZIP code, I didn't hesitate when Jonah called me earlier this yeaf to ask me to participate 

in this year's Government Affairs Conference. Having been a luncheon speaker last year, I was all 

ready to step into the lime light with a keynote address. 

It wasn't until after I accepted his invitation, however, that Jonah told me I would be^ a 

panelist during the General Session of the Conference this year. When I protested this treatment, 

Jonah suggested that, if I didn't do a better job with the reclassification case than I had done with 

the last rate case, I might find myself relegated to one of those afternoon, concurrent sessions next 

year. 

As the swing vote between the two Commission factions-which I hear some of you 

thought the new movie "Dumb and Dumber'' was all about-Jonah's admonition got me to 

thinkin' that I might have found a foolproof way of cutting down on my hture speaking schedule! 

In all seriousness, it is, as always, a pleasure to have an opportunity to share my thoughts 

on postal matters with you and to learn from you-so that I can do better at my job. And, oh, by 

the way, I was just kidding about being the swing vote. 

When I asked Dick Barton what the advertised title of this session-"Perspectives on a 

Government-Run Postal Service"-meant, he explained that we were supposed to talk about what 

needed to be done if the answer to the question posed by the title of the first panel-"Should the 

Postal Service be Sold to the Highest Bidder?"-was NO. 

Well 1 have thought about this quite a bit. I have concluded that almost anything I say will 

Probably, the less I say the better!-But you know me! 

So let me put it fairly succinctly: If you're gonna talk the talk, you had better be able to 

be perceived as combative, arrogant and petulant, sour grapes-and, that's without even trying! 

walk the walk! 

Well, just WHAT am I talking about? 

For starters, let's look at the three "P"s that keep popping up in speeches that folks from 

over at LEdant Plaza give-Personnel, Prices and Products. 

Did you know that the Postal Service has m~re PERSONNEL today than it did before the 

1992 downsizing?