Three Business Lessons From The US Postal Service -

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Three Business Lessons From The US Postal Service

Three Business Lessons From The US Postal Service

There was a buzz in the air recently about the US Postal Service. Seems as though they were running into a budget deficit in the billions.

The Postal Service claimed they must cut Saturday service to customers to stay afloat -- a service they had provided for years. And one that customers expected. They said people using email instead of regular mail made a major dent in their profits. Customers were in an uproar. If customers had a choice, they'd lose many. Welcome to the real world of business.

There are three lessons in this for your business.

Lesson #1:

Use indicators, in addition to cash flow, that help you watch the ebb and flow of your business. What can you measure that will tell you quickly -- so you can act -- about what's happening in your business?

Lesson #2:

Don't just whack a service you've been providing your customers. If you need to cut, look inside your business for processes and procedures that can be streamlined to save you money. Cut the fat of your business, not the services.

Lesson #3:

Always be on the lookout for new competitors entering your business space. Don't wait for that competition to start taking away your customers. Be proactive. Find ways to offer more value to keep your customers loyal.

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In The News:

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/2008/12/1/october_construction_spending_dips_12.htmcid=1276553836ei=WOw0SajQLaCQ6APYr-noCAusg=AFQjCNEFZ4FYhTa4d7TJKOzsBVP9bun-8wimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=0NnMKujodXQJimgurl=www.hispanicbusiness.com/_client_common/images/news/construction_lg.jpg width=80 height=53 alt= border=1brfont size=-2HispanicBusiness.com/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/business/economy/02econ.html%3Fhpcid=1276553836ei=WOw0SajQLaCQ6APYr-noCAusg=AFQjCNHo-EpCq0gQD5jESYJHxDmX6q7YDgConstruction Spending Reflects Economic Slowdown/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fNew York Times,nbsp;United Statesnbsp;-/font nobr10 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1The Institute for Supply bManagement/b’s monthly index of manufacturing activity fell to 36.2, from October’s 38.9. The reading is worse than Wall Street b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/01/america/Economy.phpcid=1276553836ei=WOw0SajQLaCQ6APYr-noCAusg=AFQjCNFdJDDcgQNldQX8OgU3OYoZhxWVuAOctober construction spending drops 1.2 percent/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrInternational Herald Tribune/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/12/01/daily2.htmlcid=1276553836ei=WOw0SajQLaCQ6APYr-noCAusg=AFQjCNFkLqvcdMtB7jZGRZevj4w8lHbEaQConstruction spending fell again in October/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBizjournals.com/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8105270cid=1276553836ei=WOw0SajQLaCQ6APYr-noCAusg=AFQjCNF4twJOyiDHlV-nKTCsjAk4MUaZ2AUS Oct construction spending fell 1.2 percent/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrguardian.co.uk/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/02/content_10443763.htmcid=1276553836ei=WOw0SajQLaCQ6APYr-noCAusg=AFQjCNGt6B2wjbkKRYkF5tt-IXZuLwNdYgnobrXinhua/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/01/business/NA-US-Economy.phpcid=1276553836ei=WOw0SajQLaCQ6APYr-noCAusg=AFQjCNGBRBsi7CokmbYHm8XafR3eS_L4OAnobrInternational Herald Tribune/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1276553836hl=ennobrall 280 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

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