A tribute to Steve Merrick on his retirement
Steve Merrick is a name nearly everyone in the mailbox, print, business center, and retail shipping industry knows. At the milestone age of 70 with over 35 years of experience owning, operating, and coaching mail centers, his impact on the retail shipping world is considerable. And so, with careful consideration and extreme gratitude, Steve, his wife, Erin, and four children have decided that it’s time for Steve to finally hang up his many hats and retire. As Steve said recently, “Erin and I have grandkids and some tee times at some seriously beautiful golf courses around the world that are calling our names."
Steve’s not only a veteran of the mailbox, print, business center, and retail shipping industry, but he’s also a decorated veteran of the U.S. Navy—a naval officer, in fact, who taught at the U.S. Naval Academy, served as an ROTC instructor at the University of Wisconsin, was a member of the NATO Intelligence Command Center in London, was a member of the Destroyer Readiness Squadron in Pearl Harbor, and was a communications officer aboard the U.S.S. Orleck, a destroyer in Seattle, Washington.
Steve has also spent many years in his diverse, extensive career in academia, serving as a University Alumni Director, working in an Office of Student Veterans Outreach, serving as Special Council to the University President for three universities, and has advised entrepreneurship and investment clubs.
National awards and recognition for professional achievements have been given to Steve over and over again. He’s been recognized for excellence in public relations, marketing, and entrepreneurship by organizations like Inc. magazine, the national Council of Advancement in Support of Education, and the national Association of Mail and Business Centers.
Steve started, operated, and eventually sold the largest commercial mail and packing center in the tri-state area of the Ohio Valley. After the business sale, Steve wanted to give back to the industry that brought him so much satisfaction and success and so he and Erin partnered up with dear friends Kathy and Dave Shappee to create the MPC Coaches Network. Through consulting and coaching, friends-turned-brothers Steve and Dave worked as a team to coach hundreds of businesses and help each reach higher levels of success, polish their best practices, and embrace their fuller potentials. Steve found his coaching expertise in increasing gross sales, enhancing customer count, and developing a strong marketing presence.
Through MPC Coaches Network, the Shappees and Merricks had a number of events that they called “Masters Summits” in places ranging from Palm Desert, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii. The Masters Summits drew together the top performing stores across the industry for intense days of digging deep into numbers, sharing secrets to success, and cultivating a culture of camaraderie and mutual growth—lifting each other up collectively instead of trying to outdo one another.
In honor of Steve’s retirement, Dave had this to say:
For over ten years, I partnered with Steve Merrick in a mail and parcel center transformation business called MPC Coaches Network. Part of our program was helping owners build their teams—what we called “Who’s on Your Bus,” after a concept in Jim Collins’ masterpiece, Good to Great. Collins described great leaders this way: “They first got the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it.” Amazing things happen when you gather the right people.
When I look back on our time together, it’s apparent that, no matter what skills or ideas I thought were “mine,” Steve was always guiding the bus, gently steering us toward new challenges and opportunities. Commander Merrick’s Navy experience served him well, as I was frequently a reluctant vessel who required careful steerage. Steve also gently guided our cautious clients who had “always done it this way” and were fearful of change (yet knew they were doomed without it).
One of my favorite aspects of Steve was when he became Pastor Steve. I don’t just mean the Sunday morning prayer groups he’d schedule during our summits (he wasn’t a denominational preacher), but I really mean his marvelously sincere empathy and care for our clients. I would be tearing my hair out in frustration and Steve would say, “These folks need us, Dave. Let’s keep trying.” He was right, and they knew it, because he felt it, and showed it.
Steve’s motto, “Keep Up the Spirit,” isn’t just a slogan, but his lifestyle—an indomitable driver of positive forward momentum. It’s a fit ending to a wonderful career that he is, indeed, driving a bus. All of us who have been his passengers benefitted from the ride.
Kathy also shared her gratitude and well-wishes:
We’re lucky enough to have known Steve “Keep Up the Spirit” Merrick for most of the 30 years we were in the mail center business. My first vivid memory is on the bow of a steam wheeler where Dave and Steve snuck off for a cigar while the crazy AMPC convention attendees danced to YMCA. There was an immediate connection. We had the same values, purpose, mission, and positive approach to life. From that evening on, our friendship and eventual partnership blossomed.
Steve has made a difference in the lives he’s touched in all of his endeavors. His legacy with both the U.S. Navy and our industry as a bus driver is a gift to those of us lucky enough to be in his universe.
Steve’s big smile, positive approach, gentle guidance, and wisdom are such a breath of fresh air. I’ve had the privilege of working side by side with Dave, Steve, and Erin as they ran trainings, financial analyses, store consults, and MPC Coaches Network summits and retreats.
Steve is one of the most helpful people I’ve ever known. He brings a sense of calm to the chaos of logistics and is organized, kind, thoughtful, and sincere. As a leader, his continual harvesting of wisdom wherever he can, then sharing that wisdom happily, makes him a shining star.
Steve lives his values and his inner and outer work align. They say you are the company you keep and Steve is evidence of that.
Steve has touched the lives of so many of us brave enough to go into business for ourselves. His impact is immense, far reaching, and an inspiration. We are the lucky ones; our lives and businesses are better for knowing “Onward Through the Fog” Steve Merrick.
In gratitude, Steve. Enjoy this next third of your life with your lovely wife, family, and friends. You’ve earned it!
After Kathy and Dave retired, Steve and Erin continued coaching independently for a while and then, in January of 2024, Steve joined the AYM High Consultants team, working with fellow coaches and dear friends Fahim Mojawalla, Seema Mojawalla, Yusuf Mojawalla, and Marty Johnson to not only continue the mission and impact that MPC Coaches Network had, but to take consulting in the industry they collectively have over a century of combined experience in to new levels of excellence. Steve’s guidance and solid influence have been a key to AYM High’s success.
When asked about how much Steve has made an impact, Fahim shared the following:
Seema and I would not be here without Steve Merrick. His diligence, foresight, acumen, mentorship, overall demeanor and persona, and continuous motivation in encouraging us to do things we were initially uncomfortable with but which actually allowed us to grow has been a game-changer for our business and our business growth. Every single time that we reached a certain halt in our business growth, he allowed us to see new pivot points, new services, and new avenues for success and growth. We adopted those, like going full-on into printing, storage, private mailboxes, and digital mailboxes, and that allowed us to grow even further.
Steve took us on, under his wing, and trusted us and saw greatness in us that we didn’t see in ourselves; he has continued to hold our hands to success and profitability, and for that we are utterly grateful.
The best thing we can do for Steve is to make sure we are living lives that impact others’ successes and that we are living lives that have a legacy for others. We need to pay it forward just like he’s done for us, and for the industry as a whole.
Thank you, Steve, for your love, your generosity, your gratitude, your kindness, and your courage in mentoring us and helping us to grow to new heights. We wish you the utmost success in your retirement. You have friends in us for life.
Regarding his experience in the mailbox, print, business center, and retail shipping industry and why he felt so driven be a force in it, Steve said, “This all started when I attended an industry workshop six months into our startup mail center 35 years ago. I sat up in the front row and listened like a little kid to the first President of AMPC, Jim Baer. I can still picture how he trained us to use a box cutter correctly and introduced us to this profit center thing called ‘freight.’ The business tended to escalate quickly from that workshop.”
Steve went on to explain, “I have been fortunate to work with hundreds of incredible store owners and industry professionals over the years. I have a soft spot for Dave Shappee and Fahim Mojawalla—two great people who taught me how to successfully guide and coach just about any store into the million dollar club."
One of Steve’s closest friends in the mailbox, print, business center, and retail shipping industry has been Sarah Rohde-Acker. In honor of Steve, Sarah shared:
What began as an industry friendship born out of our mutual admiration for Minnesota hot dishes and phrases like "You betcha!" developed into a deep respect between two people who have a special appreciation for this industry and a passion to see others meet and then exceed their perceived potential.
Steve has a special ability and gift. He can appreciate others exactly where they are while gently encouraging them to dig deeper. He did that for me, and so many others! Steve has left a tremendous legacy for the rest of us to follow.
Thank you, Steve, for helping pave the way for this industry to become stronger, more resilient, and more appreciative of the communities we serve. You have my deepest respect, love, and admiration.
Indeed, Steve is a giant in the industry he loves and that loves him in return. His bus is full of grateful peers, but even more importantly the seats on Steve’s bus have been arranged strategically. So inspired by the concept and example of Steve’s bus, his colleagues Fahim and Marty wrote a piece that has since been published in the industry-leading magazine, MBC Today, as well as on other platforms: Who’s On Your Bus?
How do you begin to thank someone who has given over half of his life to the industry he not only found success in, but considerably helped to sculpt, develop, and polish? How do you show enough gratitude to someone whose sage advice is not only given in a kind way, but also with empathy, understanding, and respect? How do you begin to quantify the impact of someone so impactful? Those in the mailbox, print, business center, and retail shipping industry don’t know the answers to these questions, but collectively and uniformly are wishing Steve, Erin, and their family an abundance of goodness, rest, love, and sunny days on the golf course, knowing the gratitude of an entire industry and hundreds of directly impacted individuals and businesses go with them into the next chapter.
Gratitude really sums it all up, which is a lesson Steve taught consistently, showed by his own example consistently, and still today exhibits abundantly and consistently. At a 2023 industry event where Steve was asked to present, he made quite a memorable statement by gifting all of the attendees wooden plaques that simply said, “Gratitude.” The room, full of new and experienced store owners, managers, vendors, officials from FedEx and other large industry players, business coaches, and industry veterans, was filled with gratitude for each other…and for Steve. That says it all.
To reach Steve directly and share your heartfelt messages, please reach out at srmspirit@hotmail.com.