One of those key points was that the way the company sees the world of business is encapsulated in its actual business operational processes. In other words, as a customer, what you see is what you are going to get because that is the way the company is set up.
If you start discussing FedEx, one still thinks automatically in terms of the US Postal Service as the baseline. I am not one of those who insist on bashing the USPS just on principle. In any enormous enterprise there will be a certain amount of bad luck or a couple of bad actors. Remember, even six-sigma accepts that there will be some defects. Delivering mail all across the country door-to-door is a pretty remarkable accomplishment, and especially for 50 cents. It isn't really fair to ask for perfection, and it is true that over the years I have had FedEx mangle a package too, and ditto with UPS. In fact, in over 40 years of dealing with USPS, I can think of less than 5 letters or packages that have gone missing (and a couple more that I thought never arrived but were later found under a piece of furniture in my own house). Indeed, it is rather remarkable that anybody is allowed to use the excuse of the USPS losing something. So the product itself is really quite superior. How, then, is the USPS everybody's favorite pinata? I believe that Rob Carter's observation is the point: the business process must not be allowed to intervene in the customer transaction.
Just last week in a venture capital forum, Priceline co-founder Jay Walker (@TedMedjay) noted that there is a vast difference between the company (the institution and processes by which you deliver a service) and the business (the delivery of a solution to the customer's need). How very apropos to this discussion. Once the process intrudes, the customer changes their view of the company from "service provider" to "mindless bureaucracy".
Now I am sure that the USPS would like to get my package from here to there in as convenient a manner as I wish to undertake (and pay for). I know they are constrained by their mission, their history, their union and the US Congress. With friends like those, enemies are hardly needed. But with the USPS, for anything but a simple envelope that I can put in the mail, I have to go to their place - which is only open during bankers' hours, when most of us happen to work, or of course on Saturday when everybody else who works also has to go there. When I get there, I much prefer to use the automat machine, which seldom has a line and usually works. Usually. In the nature of things, it tends to be out of order when I need it the most. And there are a number of transactions that one cannot do on the automat, which means (a) getting forms and materials and (b) waiting in line. Forms and materials are often out of supply, and in 20 years I doubt I have ever seen one of their pens work, and this is all before getting a proper place in line. Generally the staff tries to siphon off those folks who are doing a no-register action (mostly picking up a letter or package) but that too requires a clear departure from the normal process. All in all, I have to be pretty conversant with USPS' processes to get even a reasonable result, and at every turn the process introduces itself.
FedEx is open 24x7 as a result of its partnership with Kinko's; they never seem to run out of boxes, forms or pens; and except for major holidays there is seldom any line at all at the times when I choose to go (which are deliberately off-hours). While it is true that there are many conditions that make their job considerably simpler, starting with a more narrow range of services, it's also true that I do not have to be an expert in their process. For the most part I don't even have to fill in their form; I can just hand the desk staff a piece of paper with the address written on it (and mostly they prefer it if I do so, and then they enter it in their computer). This too I am sure USPS would do, but the truth is when there is a major line going on, which is usually the case, I don't want to inconvenience everyone else in the line behind me by having the postal clerk do every little thing for me.
The process is not the service.
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