In its 228-year history, the United States Postal Service never
experienced a crisis to the degree it did during the anthrax scare
of 2001. But after deploying its crisis communication plan related
to the scare, the postal service now has a better reputation than
it did before the term "powdery substance" took on a whole new
meaning.
Since the anthrax scare in the fall of 2001, the U.S.P.S. has
recorded 23,000 "false incidents" throughout the postal system.
The U.S.P.S., along with its PR agency, Burson-Marsteller,
continues to cultivate a massive crisis management plan implemented
in the immediate wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, when several
letters containing the deadly anthrax virus were sent to the U.S.
Senate and news organizations in New York and Florida. A Federal
investigation is ongoing. "We're not out of the woods yet, which
puts everyone on notice" says Azeezaly Jaffer, VP-public affairs
for the U.S.P.S.
Now, the U.S.P.S. is on the verge of deploying new processing
tools to postal offices nationwide, a move that will require the
postal service to use several elements of its crisis communication
plan.
The full-scale plan was created to protect the nation's 750,000
postal workers, who sort through 500 million pieces of mail, six
days a week, and restore public confidence in the postal
service.
Working closely with Kent Jenkins, Jr., managing director of
Burson-Marsteller, who works in the agency's Washington. D.C.
office, the U.S.P.S. designed a multi-pronged strategy that
includes a plethora of elements. These include working with
authorities at the state and local levels to make sure that proper
gloves and masks are provided to postal workers and implementing
specific operational changes. Jaffer could not provide any details
about operational changes, however, for fear of compromising any of
the security measures put in place. The U.S.P.S. also implemented
new vacuum machines that get rid of the residue that mail-sorting
machines tend to collect.
In addition to implementing all of said safeguards stemming from
the crisis, the U.S.P.S. also took significant steps to improve its
internal communications -- not an easy task when your employees
work throughout the country in three, 8-hour shifts.
- To make sure all postal workers are apprised of any and all
changes, the U.S.P.S. created mandatory "stand-up" talks. The
"stand-up" talks are huddles, really, between postal executives and
rank-and-file postal employees to educate the employees on any
pending changes in operations. "Not everyone is accessible, but you
have to talk to both carriers and the people working on the shop
floor, so it's a very specific communications track," says Jenkins.
Right after the anthrax attacks there were daily "stand-up" talks.
More recently, however, they have been on a quarterly basis. - The U.S.P.S. also launched U.S.P.S TV Network, which is
available to 200,000 postal workers via closed circuit TV. The
network features 24/7 programming on topics ranging from special
safety talks to important operational changes. For the first month
and a half it was on the air the network ran up to 60 different
programs. Now, about half that amount runs at any given time. - It created an internal Web site, the Electrical Communications
Network, which is posted on usps.gov. Information on the Web site
is updated at least once a day. "At the height of the crisis so
little was known," Jenkins says. "We needed to figure out how to
use the Web as a vehicle and to provide content" useful to postal
workers. If any postal worker does not have access to the Web or
TV, a toll-free telephone number is available that workers can call
to get up to speed on any changes. To help with the flow of
information the postal service also launched two Web-based
publications, U.S.P.S Facts and Post Master's Update, written by
postal employees and distributed to rank-and-file postal employees
and postmasters general, respectively. - It set up a rapid deployment of information via teleconferences
that ran up to three times a day for the first three months of the
crisis. "There were many nights when we had nothing to report and
there was no news," Jaffer says. "The reason the strategy worked
was for people to get immediate access to information. We didn't
waste any time and disseminated the information as quickly as we
got it."
In August 2001 the postal service conducted a brand equity
survey using 1,000 randomly selected households. The postal service
took another survey in December 2001 -- after implementing its
crisis communication plan -- and re-contacted the 500 respondents
plus 500 new households randomly selected. The results raised a few
eyebrows. For example, on the question of safety, 98% of
respondents said they felt safe about sending or receiving mail
prior to terrorism. Yet that figure dropped to 82% immediately
following the anthrax attacks. However, within six weeks of the
crisis, at the time of the follow-up study, 96% of respondents
again said they felt safe about sending and receiving both letter
mail and packages. (See table).
"What this showed us was that we had provided enough information
about the nature of the threat, the postal service had responded in
a timely fashion and that there was no meaningful impact on the
public's confidence in the mail system," Jennings says.
Campaign Team
Burson-Marsteller: Kent Jenkins, [email protected],
202.530.4520; Deborah Bowker, [email protected]
U.S.P.S.: Azeezaly Jaffer, [email protected],
202.268.2000; Jon Leonard; Joyce Carrier; Gerry McKiernan; Gary
Thurow