USPS Second Guessing Decision To Change Mystery Shopper Program
After USPS implemented changes to the unpopular Mystery Shopper Program, some postmasters and managers are second-guessing the decision. PR note: Three clerks in my office were disciplined for not asking all the questions under the old format. Although it is agreed that clerks cannot be disciplined for failing a Mystery Shopper Survey, Bay-Valley District management claimed “internal mystery shopper surveys” are not included in the agreement. So hopefully changes in this program will remain the same.
After years of APWU complaints about the program, in January the USPS vice president of Post Office Operations issued instructions to Area vice presidents: Retail Associates (RAs) would no longer be required to ask a scripted set of questions when waiting on customers. Instead, they would be permitted to “customize their questions to best address customer needs.”
The questions, which were designed to increase sales of higher-priced services, were a source of frustration to window clerks and the public because RAs were required to ask every customer mailing a package a litany of inquiries – even customers the RAs knew well and whose needs they understood.
In a Dec. 27, 2010, letter to the APWU , the USPS said the decision was based on “confidence in RAs product knowledge.”
Despite the change in policy, retail clerks should continue to promote USPS products and services. Why? Simply put, the USPS needs the revenue.
Recently, priority mail sales have declined, while sales of less expensive parcel post services have increased. The latest sales figures are troubling to management, and some postmasters and managers want to return to the old script.
We hope Vice President of Post Office Operations stands his ground and continues to permit RAs to use their judgment about asking the questions. In the meantime, our clerks will have to continue to demonstrate that they are true professionals.
USPS Mystery Shopper Program Changes
APWU: USPS Announces Changes To ‘Mystery Shopper Program’
Filed under: APWU, mystery shopper, postal, postal news, usps
APWU Web News
After years of APWU complaints, the Postal Service has notified the union that the Mystery Shopper Program will be altered beginning in January 2011. Retail Associates (RAs) will no longer be required to follow a precise script when waiting on customers; instead they will be permitted to “customize their questions to best address individual customer needs.”
The questions have been a source of frustration, both to window clerks and the mailing public, in part because RAs were required to ask every customer mailing a package a litany of questions – even customers they knew well and whose needs they understood.
APWU Clerk Craft Director Rob Strunk praised the decision. “Finally, a manager with authority has realized that our Sales and Service Associates can determine on their own an appropriate method for communicating with our customers.
“The Mystery Shopper program has been misused, abused, and violated in so many ways,” he said. “We can go forward now demonstrating our professionalism.”
The Mystery Shooper program, which was recently renamed the Retail Customer Experience Program, has been a source of contention between the union and management since its inception. The program relies on management designees posing as customers and scoring retail clerks based on adherence to the script.
According to management’s Dec. 27, 2010, letter, the Product Offerings and Product Explanation categories will no longer be scored, and scoring in other categories will be revised.
USPS Renames Mystery Shopper Program
As the Postal Service embarks on the new fiscal year, USPS has decided to refocus its Mystery Shopper program to improve desired employee behavior and influence customer loyalty and brand recognition.
“To better align with the program’s objectives and feedback from the field, the Mystery Shopper Program will become the Retail Customer Experience”, said Dean Granholm, vice president, Delivery and Post Office Operations.
One of the objectives of the program is to provide real-time data that lets the Postal Service evaluate its performance from the customer’s point of view. USPS also uses the feedback to provide recommendations for improvement in the program categories.
The Postal Service uses the program as a diagnostic tool to correct conditions that can stand in the way of customer satisfaction and revenue growth. The Retail Customer Experience program will give the Postal Service an objective view of interactions with customers.
The name change is a result of feedback received from area and district Customer Relations managers.
USPS News Link
USPS Seeking Vendors For Mystery Shopper Program
From FedBizOpps:
The United States Postal Service (USPS) wishes to pre-qualify suppliers who can develop, implement, manage and analyze information for a national Mystery Shopper Program. The purpose of the USPS Mystery Shopper program is to provide an independent, periodic measure of retail services that provides an objective view of our retail locations and identifies drivers that are detrimental to customer satisfaction and may inhibit revenue growth. The USPS is seeking suppliers who apply current industry best practices and demonstrate innovative approaches to providing actionable insights into employee and customer interaction. Suppliers pre-qualified as part of this process may be invited to participate in response to a solicitation(s) issued by the USPS. It is the intent of the USPS to issue a solicitation for suppliers to provide full-service Mystery Shop capabilities.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The USPS requires one supplier to provide support for the nationwide Mystery Shopper program. The USPS wants to grow revenue and increase customer satisfaction. Mystery Shopper is a process improvement tool that enables local management to assess and improve operations, which ultimately increases revenue and customer satisfaction.
Retail services are provided at approximately 38,000 post offices and contracted retail units, serving 7 million customers daily. Field management of all USPS functions, including retail, is organized into 9 areas with 81 Districts. Corporate direction is provided from USPS Headquarters in Washington, DC.
The Mystery Shopper Program provides timely and reliable data used to identify retail process improvement opportunities and analyze trends. It provides a customer “snapshot” of retail service and provides feedback about compliance to procedures and areas of retail that are vital from a customer service and/or revenue generation standpoint. The information from Mystery Shopper impacts performance at the local, area and national levels. It also provides source data for service goals for service improvement.
The Mystery Shopper Program methodology aims to gauge unit performance by conducting shops focusing on attributes deemed important to our retail customers. Mystery shoppers must follow scenarios. The shoppers will then assess the shop according to a USPS scoring method. The supplier will transmit the data for all units to the USPS Enterprise Data Warehouse. The supplier must be able to conduct mystery shops geographically throughout all of the United States up to a total of 71,000 shops per year. There are approximately 8,900 retail outlets that are shopped about 8 times per year or 2 times per quarter.