Mailing Systems Technology - September/October 2008 - (Page 12) 2008 Survey Results a changing culture in a changing ECONOMY Part 1: Results of the Annual Wage & Operations Survey By Marll Thiede ail center managers have been faced with challenges in the past — weak economies and USPS automation come to mind. But 2008 brings a multitude of challenges — a recession, which forces companies to slash internal costs wherever they can; dropping volumes of mail as more communications go electronic; and the pending implementation of IMB, the U.S. Postal Service’s Intelligent Mail Barcode. And there are regional challenges where companies are recovering M from natural disasters. But mail managers and their staff are resilient, and they are surviving by making the necessary adjustments until times are better and more stable. I have been analyzing the results of the Mailing Systems Technology Annual Wage & Operations Survey for 19 years, since its inception; oops, perhaps I am dating myself. I truly sympathize with mail managers in this era. Maintaining and investing in equipment and maintaining and investing in staff as companies are forcing drastic budget cuts and pushing more and more electronic communications can make for sleepless nights. However, there are always up sides, like employee retention rates at an all-time high and increasing efficiencies so that you can do more with less. This survey takes a bit of time to complete, and we recognize you have a very busy schedule; so we extend a big thanks to all those who did take the time. And a lot of you there were! SHIFTING INDUSTRY UNION SHOPS 1% fewer than in ’07 OVERALL MANAGERS’ SALARIES 1/2% drop from ’07 MAIL MANAGERS IN PRINTING COMPANIES 1% drop from ’07 PRINTERS WITH MAIL SERVICES 1% more than in ’07 11% $49,800 in ‘07 $49,600 in ‘08 $47,300 in ‘07 $46,300 in ‘08 (of all survey respondents) 16% in ‘07 17% in ‘08 More small commercial and quick printers are beginning to provide mailing services, helping change the face of the industry. 12 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008 | WWW.MAILINGSYSTEMSTECHNOLOGY.COM http://www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com
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