Postal Service Recognizes GEICO at 2008 National Postal Forum

Fredericksburg VA — The U.S. Postal Service today recognized GEICO with its Strategic Business Development Award for the company’s commitment to a successful business partnership with the Postal Service. At each National Postal Forum, a select group of Postal customers is acknowledged and recognized for their contributions to the continued success of the mailing industry.

The Strategic Business Development Award, one of three “best in class” awards presented annually at the Forum, recognizes customers who have taken steps to implement new technologies and best practices to maximize efficiencies in the mail value chain. They have employed modern technologies and automation in their mail operations to improve productivity. These operational improvements have streamlined their production and provided their customers with a mail product that delivers increased value and business results.

GEICO (Government Employees Insurance Company) is the fourth-largest private passenger auto insurer in the United States. It provides auto insurance coverage for more than 8 million policyholders and insures more than 13 million vehicles. In addition to auto insurance, GEICO offers customers insurance products for their motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATV's), boats, homes, apartments and mobile homes. Personal umbrella protection and life insurance are also available. As a member of the Berkshire Hathaway group of companies, GEICO is rated A++ for financial stability by A.M. Best Company and ranks at the top of several national customer satisfaction surveys. 

GEICO has 23,000 associates across 12 major offices nationwide, serving customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year.  The company was founded on the principal that automobile insurance could be delivered at reduced prices by selecting customer groups and marketing directly to them.  By driving down operating costs, the savings can be passed on to policyholders.  GEICO continues to find ways to manage its business costs today in order to offer savings to all drivers.  

GEICO is a mailing industry leader that has always taken its partnership with the Postal Service very seriously.  The company has worked diligently to improve processes and comply with regulations governing workshare mailings.  It was no surprise that GEICO excelled when USPS called for mailers to update address databases through approved methods.  Utilizing the talents of a cross-functional national team, GEICO guaranteed compliance.

Because of the various state regulations governing the insurance industry, GEICO participates in an Optional Procedure in order to meet USPS Move Update requirements.  A stipulation of that participation requires that GEICO provide USPS with detailed information verifying its compliance.  As a result, GEICO has complete, comprehensive national data regarding their address databases.  This data clearly reflected the impact of Undeliverable-as-Addressed (UAA) mail on corporate productivity and profitability.  The significance of good address management goes far beyond just meeting USPS Move Update minimum compliance standards.  Consequently, in addition to ensuring Move Update compliance, the team expanded their focus to include reducing UAA mail enterprise-wide.

In the beginning, GEICO had an 11% rate of UAA.  The costs associated with that 11% were significant, not just in postage costs, but in production, I T, customer services, marketing, and probably worst of all - lost customers.  The cross-functional team conferenced each week to review procedures; brainstormed on how best to correct behaviors and processes that negatively impacted compiling and storing correct customer addresses; made recommendations; and finally to assisted in implementation. 

Ensuring that every procedure met with the strictest of the state laws, GEICO implemented several different programs across many different workgroups system-wide in order to improve their UAA rate.  For example, during address origination analysis, they found that data entry errors and associate override of address management software programs contributed to the greatest percentage of bad addressing.  GEICO made associate awareness a priority, established new customer service scripts to include enhanced address messaging and implemented programming safety nets that flagged incorrect or incomplete addresses.  They also found that customers did not always input correct information when entering their own addresses via the internet.  GEICO strengthened that avenue as well.  A significant number of addresses were found to be incomplete-missing directionals or secondary addressing.  GEICO now generates an automated call to customers whose addresses get “nixie hits” to notify them that USPS has advised that their address is undeliverable and to please contact GEICO as soon as possible to correct.

GEICO went far beyond traditional address management methods in order to improve UAA rates and now enjoys an average UAA rate of 1% or less annually. 

For GEICO, reaching the customer quickly and accurately increases customer satisfaction and ensures a long-term customer relationship. For the Postal Service, this translates on more mail being delivered the first time which also enhances customer satisfaction and reduces operations costs. 

“I congratulate GEICO for having recognized the vital importance of innovation, teamwork, communications and customer satisfaction using the mail,” said Susan Plonkey, vice president, customer service.

The National Postal Forum is the mailing industry’s premier trade show and event. More than 7,000 industry professionals attend the four-day conference that features 140 workshops and special sessions, four symposiums and 13 professional certificate programs.

For more information on the 2008 National Postal Forum, visit www.npf.org.