Anu Saxena, Lakeland Area Chamber of Commerce Board Chairman,announced Wednesday the Chamber’s opposition to the USPS consolidation plans for the Lakeland Processing and Distribution Center. The Chamber, in a written letter to the Consumer Affairs Manager of the Suncoast District of the USPS, asked that the following points be taken into consideration:

• Lakeland is located strategically between Tampa and Orlando on the I-4 corridor, a geographic super-region that is ranked seventh largest in the country and fifteenth in the world. Lakeland’s strategic location, with 8.5 million people living within a 100-mile radius of the city, should be considered an asset to the USPS as more individuals are projected to move into the region placing a greater burden on mail services.
• What is the cost and service efficiency of collecting the 338 zip code mail in Lakeland and trucking it to Tampa? Once processed at the Tampa P&DC Center, this same mail will have to be trucked BACK to Lakeland and to further points in the 338 service area. This practice adds to increased truck traffic on an already stressed interstate system and results in consumption of excess fuel.
• Lakeland’s P&DC has been recognized frequently as the top processing plant in the country. Why wouldn’t that level of service be utilized to its maximum capacity rather than forcing the Tampa facility to increase their overtime labor to handle the additional mail service?
• The USPS also claims that local postmarks will continue to be available. This is true, but only if one physically takes his mail to a Post Office. The majority of our Chamber members are small business owners who do not have ample time in their day to drive mail to a post office, thus their mail will no longer bear the Lakeland postmark resulting in a loss of identity.

Every business in this country is enduring the same challenges the USPS faces: to identify cost-saving measures to keep their doors open without jeopardizing their most valuable asset, the customers they serve. While we commend the efforts of the USPS to improve operational efficiency and make more efficient use of Postal Service assets, we urge the USPS to consider the negative consequences of moving Lakeland’s First Class mail operations to Tampa.

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Editor’s Note: Give a warm welcome to our guest writer and previous Business & Breafast Speaker, Chuck Welch:

Not too long ago, Lorrie Delk Walker and I spoke to the Chamber members about the importance of using social media tools to establish and build customer communication. I mentioned using Twitter. For those who missed the breakfast Twitter is a communication service that enables users to broadcast short 140-character messages to many followers, or directly to a trusted friend. You can view the communication at a particular URL, or add an application to your phone so you can communicate with select Tweeters.
Using Twitter is like “live blogging on steroids.” People use the service to ask questions, set up group meetings, find a restaurant in a unfamiliar city, ask fellow customers about your business, or simply carry on discussions.

I’ve been using Twitter from close to the beginning, but last year started using it heavily conjunction with my news site. Lakeland Local uses Twitter to broadcast short nuggets of information to all those who choose to follow. The title and link to each new post is immediately sent to all who follow on the channel: @lakelandlocal . That channel also broadcasts the titles and URLs for all The Arts in Lakeland posts.
(You did know about our companion Lakeland Arts site, didn’t you?

Breaking news, short important notes, and interesting trivia is broadcast @lakelandflorida. We use that channel to also display such information on our home page.

I have a personal Twitter account @chuckwelch, but I use it mainly to schmooze. It’s a good service because 140 characters is about my writing limit. (I wrote this post in 140 character bursts.)

I’m writing to invite all Chamber members to a meeting of people who use social media on a daily basis, and those interested in how to make it work for their company. Bloggers and Tweeters aren’t the only groups invited to the meeting. You’re still invited if you use, or wish to learn more about,any of the big social media services like Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, or Craigslist. To help reach interested readers, Lakeland Local has published to most of those sites.

If you blog, tweet, post on Facebook, use the Internet to communicate, or want to learn more — you’re invited Thursday, January 15th at 6pm for a meeting of like minds.

Black and Brew Coffee House

205 E. Main St.

Lakeland, FL 33801

(863) 682-1210

All ages and vocations welcome. Please pass it on.

Editor’s note: I am planning on being there, so I hope to see you on the 15th.

In these hard times, I know many businesses are having to stretch to make a profit and some to just make ends meet. I offer a word of well wishing this Christmas season. We all must look at how we do business and adjust, because in the end we will all be better for it. But for non profits it is quite another story. Non profits are being hit, some would say, the hardest. So here is my holiday plea, for a couple of non profits, that was forwarded my way. Let me reiterate these were not solicited, and it is my way of offer to help. So if you can the following organizations would greatly appreciate it.

This came for the Boys & Girls club, they are looking for cans:

The BGC is up to over 300 cans, getting closer to its goal of 500.  500 canned goods will get the BGC a Wii game for the kids.  We can collect until end of business day Thursday…I am willing to come to you.  Happy Holidays!!

Boys & Girls Clubs of Lakeland & Mulberry
OFFICE 863-686-1719 CELLPHONE 863-712-2710 FAX 863-686-4057 Kelly Lane, Director of Development at bgclakeland.com:

If you are downtown, the staff at the Chamber is pulling together a can or 2 so you are welcome to drop off even just a can here. 

If you are interested in some last minute volunteering for Toys for Tots give George Overstreet a call 863-670-589:

Toys for Tots is looking for volunteers to work at the warehouse Today, Weds and Thursday.  The warehouse is open from 8am until 10pm each day.  It’s the last push to get the toys picked out and separated to be send out to the schools before Christmas break.  All the toys will be delivered on Friday to each school for the parents to pick and bring home.  This is why Thursday is the last day to volunteer. 

Toys for Tots Warehouse

Address–602 Page St, Auburndale FL–On Hwy 92 go to Recker Hwy and turn–then proceed to McKean St turn north

and proceed to Page St –the warehouse #602 is at the end of the street on the left side.

Or call Monti Sommer of AMIfor any clarification.  863-412-0039.

Thanks for your help.

Thursday, LakelandLocal.com bloggers (and local celebrities) Chuck Welch and Lorrie Delk Walker joined Chamber members for a discussion about new media trends for small businesses.

Hosted by GLT Total Office in their Combee Road showroom, the breakfast provided a perfect platform for local companies to learn a bit more about blogging, twittering and maximizing search engine results. Even with Chuck’s “techy” language, the entire room was intrigued at the possibilities that exist beyond the traditional company web site.

Lorrie took center stage to speak for just a minute about how search engines find web sites- the more your site changes, the more appealing it is to the spider-bots that comb for information! Who knew?

The open invitation from Chuck still stands… anyone with a specific question should feel free to contact him via LakelandLocal.com by commenting on his posts.

Thanks to GLT Total Office &  Regions Bank our presenting sponsor for the 2008 Business & Breakfast Series.