USPS addresses concerns
Posted: Friday, April 21, 2006
Thursday's town hall meeting on a Sioux City Area Mail Processing (AMP) study began with a presentation by Doug Morrow, manager of the Hawkeye District, and Clem Felchle, manager of the Dakotas District. They addressed concerns put to them by various entities in advance of Thursday's meeting. Here are some of the issues they responded to in a presentation.
-- The USPS is mandated to provide service to everyone at an affordable cost, but also to make expenses using only postal revenue; it receives no tax dollars.
-- Deliveries go to an additional 1.8 million addresses each year, but volume of First-Class mail has dropped by 11 billion pieces a year because of e-mail, online billing and paying, UPS, FedEx, E-Filing income taxes, etc.
-- The proposed changes would expand Sioux City's overnight delivery territory to include southwestern Minnesota, northeast South Dakota and more of southeast South Dakota.
Concerns
-- The decision has been made: No decisions will be made until Sioux City concerns have been addressed; the study determines "feasibility"; the decision will be based on current and future needs of USPS customers; the decision is data driven.
-- What is done to ensure success of any changes? An independent service performance measure is done; two follow-up service and efficiency reviews are done within 18 months of the new plan. No plan has ever been reversed, however. Problems are usually in small areas and are corrected.
-- Loss of 150-year-old postmark: It won't happen. Local postmarks are mandated. Mail put in a special box at the downtown post office will receive the postmark. Metered mail and permit imprint will remain the same. Only 14 percent of all mail receives an actual cancellation.
-- Mail processing center to close: Outgoing mail only would be processed in Sioux Falls. Incoming mail for ZIPs 510-511 would continue to be processed in Sioux City. Processing and delivery operations in Sioux City could be consolidated at the downtown post office.
-- Bulk mail acceptance changes: There would be no change in procedures; no change in acceptance times; no change in SCF entry discounts for current permit holders; no change in periodicals processing.
-- How are the savings calculated? Savings come from eliminating duplication -- about $975,00 from processing, maintenance, administrative functions and utilities.
-- Economic impact to Sioux City? No USPS career employee loses his or her job; Sioux City currently uses more than 50,000 hours of overtime annually.
-- Why not move area mail processing to Sioux City? Sioux Falls has technology advancements that are more cost effective and improve productivity: automated flat sorting machine, material handling system, parcel sorting capacity. It has FedEx air service, interstate highways in four directions; is a future growth center; available employee pool; future volume trends, a workshare partners program, is a planned overall logistics network of USPS.
-- Will collection box times be moved up? No times will change due to the study. All collection boxes are reviewed quarterly and changes are based on density and pickup methods. All are being reviewed now to make sure mail is picked up by 5 p.m. and never later than 6 p.m., to get it into the distribution and delivery system.
-- The USPS is mandated to provide service to everyone at an affordable cost, but also to make expenses using only postal revenue; it receives no tax dollars.
-- Deliveries go to an additional 1.8 million addresses each year, but volume of First-Class mail has dropped by 11 billion pieces a year because of e-mail, online billing and paying, UPS, FedEx, E-Filing income taxes, etc.
-- The proposed changes would expand Sioux City's overnight delivery territory to include southwestern Minnesota, northeast South Dakota and more of southeast South Dakota.
Concerns
-- The decision has been made: No decisions will be made until Sioux City concerns have been addressed; the study determines "feasibility"; the decision will be based on current and future needs of USPS customers; the decision is data driven.
-- What is done to ensure success of any changes? An independent service performance measure is done; two follow-up service and efficiency reviews are done within 18 months of the new plan. No plan has ever been reversed, however. Problems are usually in small areas and are corrected.
-- Loss of 150-year-old postmark: It won't happen. Local postmarks are mandated. Mail put in a special box at the downtown post office will receive the postmark. Metered mail and permit imprint will remain the same. Only 14 percent of all mail receives an actual cancellation.
-- Mail processing center to close: Outgoing mail only would be processed in Sioux Falls. Incoming mail for ZIPs 510-511 would continue to be processed in Sioux City. Processing and delivery operations in Sioux City could be consolidated at the downtown post office.
-- Bulk mail acceptance changes: There would be no change in procedures; no change in acceptance times; no change in SCF entry discounts for current permit holders; no change in periodicals processing.
-- How are the savings calculated? Savings come from eliminating duplication -- about $975,00 from processing, maintenance, administrative functions and utilities.
-- Economic impact to Sioux City? No USPS career employee loses his or her job; Sioux City currently uses more than 50,000 hours of overtime annually.
-- Why not move area mail processing to Sioux City? Sioux Falls has technology advancements that are more cost effective and improve productivity: automated flat sorting machine, material handling system, parcel sorting capacity. It has FedEx air service, interstate highways in four directions; is a future growth center; available employee pool; future volume trends, a workshare partners program, is a planned overall logistics network of USPS.
-- Will collection box times be moved up? No times will change due to the study. All collection boxes are reviewed quarterly and changes are based on density and pickup methods. All are being reviewed now to make sure mail is picked up by 5 p.m. and never later than 6 p.m., to get it into the distribution and delivery system.
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Denise wrote on Jun 18, 2008 3:18 PM:
@ Parris Island with USPS!Thank you if you can please send me a letter confirming that someone got this letter I would really appreciate it!Thank you "
Sefany wrote on Jul 1, 2006 1:50 PM: