More than 20 percent of people pay their bills at the post office because it's so easy. Customers bring in bills from 340 participating merchants, the clerk scans the bills by bar codes on the envelopes and the customer pays the amount due in a lump sum by check, ATM or credit card. Berzins admits that the labor unions are in an uproar over the project because it will affect some 3,000 positions in the Post's 44,000-member workforce. Some workers will be retrained and rehired, Berzins insists, but she knows downsizing cannot be avoided as the Post enters a new era of competition. Letters, parcels and related products comprise 85 percent of the Post's total revenues.
Financial services make up most of the remainder.
Of all revenue, about half is obtained competitively. The Post's ingenuity in thinking beyond the traditional domain of mail service will help it succeed in its increasingly competitive marketplace. In many respects, the Post is becoming the community bank of the bush. They see them as friendly places. The agency's decision to outsource IT operations and maintenance has allowed it to hone its skills in developing road management systems that track and report problems in real-time.