Executive Summary of Remarks by William H. Henderson Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President before Mailers' Technical Advisory Committee Wednesday, June 15, 1994 Mr. Henderson welcomed the MTAC membership and their contributions. He assured them that the management changes that just took effect were not a restructuring and that changes will stop at the area level, with the exception that plants may change their reporting relationships. They are looking for Vice Presidents of the ten area offices both inside and outside the Postal Service. Otherwise, there will be few personnel changes made within two weeks. He emphasized that the Postal Service will continue its focus on improving service and increasing revenue. Responding to questions from the audience, Mr. Henderson said that the Postal Service will continue implementing automation to replace its labor-intensive operations. He cautioned that moving too quickly creates confusion and push back from employees. He also said he does not anticipate recombining the Marketing and Sales functions. Because Sales needs to be able to address both sales and service issues for customers, they need to be affiliated with the operations organization. Sales needs the support of the COO, especially on service issues. While Sales and Marketing won't be recombined, they may be "tweaked" so that Sales will have more freedom to help customers. In response to questions from MTAC members, Mr. Henderson said that the National Account Managers would provide the account services that national accounts need including access to senior managers and the ability to serve the customer at all of their national locations. When asked about reclassification, Mr. Henderson said it was "number one on the marketing agenda." MTAC First-Class Mail Subcommittee 1. First-Class Service Performance Data - Quarter II First- Class Mail Service results were presented to the committee. It was noted that there was a significant drop in performance as compared to a year ago for the same period. Much of this drop was a result of the severe weather that affected much of the Nation during the January through March measurement period. The actual results were as follows: Overnight Two-Day Three-Day 1993 1994 1993 1994 1993 1994 83.0% 78.8% 74.7% 66.7% 77.2% 65.4% The most significant drop in service came in the category of mail that was more than one day late. These results are as follows: Overnight Two-Day Three-Day 1993 1994 1993 1994 1993 1994 7.3% 8.5% 10.5% 16.0% 10.2% 18.1% It was noted that the Quarter III service performance results have shown a notable improvement over the Quarter II figures. These were not available for the meeting. One concern of the MTAC members was whether there was any correlation between delivery performance and Postal work hours. This comparison has not been done at this point. Also, Ms. Robinson agreed to look into the possibility of providing service data broken down to average day to deliver per market area. This information was requested by the MTAC membership. 2. Priority Mail Re-engineering Task Force - There were two items reported on during this segment of the meeting. They included the Short Term Improvement Plan and the Priority Mail Re-engineering Plan. The Short Term Plan was developed and implemented on May 6. It selected 32 high volume originating sites which represented 35% of the total Priority Mail. The Manger, Distribution Operations was assigned the lead. This person then had a multi-functional team with a headquarters partner assigned to each team. The headquarters partner could come from any of the functional areas. Area support and oversight were critical and a measurement and follow-up system was also put into place. The key points of the plan were to segregate the Priority Mail stream and have splits at the Retail units. Dedicated space and people were also requested. Standard Operating Procedures were placed into effect. Also a National Dock Clearance time was set at the origin site for 23:00. Day 0 dispatch was placed into operation and each site was required to have contingency plans ready to go if needed. The measurement system to be used was the ODIS system using the 32 origin/destination pairs. The goal was to decrease total delivery failures for Priority Mail volume. The longer term program deals with Priority Mail's Re- engineering. The Charter program began in January and extended through June. The program was to define the as-is processes and challenge these wherever possible. The plan called for developing a vision, processing alternatives and creating an Implementation Plan. One suggestion which was made and also came from the Task Force was to include the acceptance of Priority Mail in the Express Mail Collection Boxes. More discussion on this program was scheduled for the joint session on Thursday. 3. Express Mail Programs - The first program discussed was the Express Mail Metro Service. This is being tested in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington DC. It may be expanded to New York at a later date. The Post Office will accept local destination Express Mail at designated sites up to 23:00 for next day delivery. The areas covered are rather large in the test markets. The example given was the Los Angeles area which covers ZIP codes 900-931 or from Santa Barbara down to San Diego. So far the program is working well. The second program was PostalShip which is the brand name for the service. It allows a mailer to prepare, manifest, and pay for the shipment electronically. This was initially tested with a single customer and worked well. Anyone interested in more information or wanting the specs for the service should contact Bob Michelson's office. Two issues are top priority with this service. The first is having it ready for the Fall shipping season and the second is how to roll it out. Finally, a brief discussion on supplies was included in the program. The new Indianapolis supply center began operation on Monday, June 13. The new system is designed to be able to fill standing orders automatically to mailers and to make sure we do not short mailers on mailing equipment and supplies. You can participate in the program by contacting Bob Michelson although Express Mail Corporate accounts are automatically included. 4. Non-Denominated Bulk Rate Stamps - The new non denominated bulk rate stamps were introduced to MTAC as the first of their kind. They would be available for First- Class Mail, Third-Class Mail and Nonprofit Mail. Each category would be assigned a stamp theme. The cost assigned to the stamp would be the full cent amount just below the lowest rate for each category. The balance for any given mailing would be made up as payment with the mailing statement. The stamps would be conventional adhesive and would be available in coils. The next full rate alpha stamp for the new rate case will be the G stamps. 5. ePOST and Canadian Post Hybrid Mail - ePOST was defined as an electronic-to-paper mail preparation method with speed and cost savings as the principle benefits. The operation concept was to have to customer transmit data (mail) electronically to the local Post Office ePOST site. It would then be transmitted to the remote ePOST site where it would be processed, sent to the delivery office and then delivered to the mail recipient. The pricing has still not been determined. It also has to go to the Governors before a budget can be finalized for the Pilot Test. The Pilot Test is to assess the Operations requirements and the demand of the product. It is expected that the demand for the product will come from International Mailers, Federal Agencies and Internal domestic mailers. The Canadian Post Hybrid Mail service was a result of many years and numerous service introductions. The historical background started in 1972 with Telepost. This was followed in 1980 with Intelpost and in 1982 with Envoypost. The 1985 introduction of VEM was followed by the 1990 Lettermail Plus program and then by Omnipost in 1993. The Final product to precede Hybrid Mail, Remote Desktop Publicity, was introduced this year. The current clients for the new service include Banking, Retail, Government, Collection Agencies and Direct Marketing. Joan Rau Chairperson MTAC SECOND-CLASS SUBCOMMITTEE June 15, 1994 Charles Pace, Chairman Lyn Seidler, USPS Coordinator Charles Pace announced that he would not run for re-election for chair of the second-class subcommittee for 1995-1996. Publication Watch Revision Update John Dorsey, Product Management, said that the concepts for an improved version of Publication Watch have been presented at 2-C Focus groups and other customer groups, as well as reviewed by Headquarters management. It has been decided to take a very incremental approach in a pilot test for testing improvements. The proposed system pilot will test computer- to-computer interface connecting to a centralized postal person(s). This person will be able to make initial determinations about the nature of the problem. The pilot will allow the Postal Service to determine how well the proposed system will track the progress of the watches, ensure their resolution, and ensure feedback to the initiator. The pilot will include ways to expedite the handling of watches as they move to the carrier unit. It was suggested that the Postal service could use scanner technology to track some pieces at some point in the future. Another suggestion was that the watches go direct to the delivery unit rather than through a central source to get the watch going more quickly. Publishers participating in the pilot will represent a cross- section of the types and ranges of circulation size. Printed Sheet Requirements Lyn Seidler said that there were 15 responses (most representing associations or groups of customers) to the Federal Register request for proposals on whether to include electronic publications in second-class mail. The responses generally agreed that something should be done to allow second-class eligibility, but diverged on what exactly this something should be. Issues included: 1. What allowing electronic materials would do to second-class costs. Lyn noted that this issue will receive further cost-testing. 2. Should mixed (paper and electronic) formats be allowed. Some respondents thought that the entire publication needs to be on CD (or diskette), while others felt that mixed formats should be allowed. Some favor application of current supplement/enclosure rules. 3. Should audio and video be allowed. There was a sharp division and strong opinions on this issue, because audio/video components add new dimensions and complexity to second-class. Opponents of the inclusion of audio and video felt that second-class eligibility should be limited to publications that can be printed out so that ad/edit ratio can be measured by traditional means, and which in general closely resemble existing printed-sheet publications. They felt that publications containing audio and video raise questions about how to measure ad/edit portions, and about exactly what is a "publication." Proponents suggested ways to measure ad/edit, usually by number of bytes. Concern was also raised be some respondents that safeguards are needed to prevent the dumping of "editorial" matter (e.g., contents of Bible) onto CDs. The issues raised, particularly issue #3, suggest that further work to assess the desirability of different options for the treatment of electronic materials is needed. In assessing these options, short-term and long-term industry needs will be factors. This work to identify the appropriate concepts and conduct the analyses needed to develop supporting business cases will be taking place in the coming months. A progress report will be given at the August MTAC meeting. Status of Dynamic Entry Point Scheduling The Postal Service will be giving the industry work group general approval of the proposed concept in a few days. That will allow the industry group to proceed on defining how to implement use of Dynamic Entry. Supplement Proposal Update Jerry Lease, Business Mail Acceptance, said that the Federal Register notice on supplements will be published shortly, probably within two weeks, with a comment period of 60 days. No substantive changes from the original work group's proposal are anticipated. Policy, Requirements, and Methods Committee Update Dennis Farley, Red Tag, said that the Policy, Requirements, and Methods group met on June 14. He mentioned the issues discussed by the group, including: 1. The upcoming Federal Register notice proposing a reduction in minimum weights for 3-digit pallets to 250 pounds for second-class and third-class. This rule applies to flats in packages. The group discussed the need to have the 250 lb. minimum extended to SCF pallets. 2. The copalletizing regulations in DMM M042 4.0 and 5.0 need to be reviewed, since the copalletizing regulations are more restricting regarding documentation requirements, and can be so difficult that smaller mailers can't do the paperwork. Ernest Collins, Business Mail Acceptance, will review the regulations. 3. The Postal Service is still looking into airlift containerization and publications airlift as potential new service offerings. 4. Fred Seymour demonstrated a model of a new facility concept which would perform reconsolidation of second-class mail, in which bundles are made up into new pallets and consolidated for transportation to destination points (points still to be determined). 3541 for Carrier Route Mail Jim Schemmel discussed the need to review regulations which require that a separate 3541 be prepared when a barcoded mailing, which includes carrier route pieces, is prepared totally in sacks--no pallet qualification. Proposed Pallet Changes Cheryl Beller, Business Mail Acceptance, provided information on the upcoming Federal Register notice on pallets mentioned by Dennis Farley. The proposed rule, among other things, reduces the minimum for 3-digit pallets to 250 pounds for packages on pallets in both second and third class. The maximum is 2200 pounds, and there is a 77 inch height maximum. No triple stacking is proposed right now, nor are convenience pallets. There is a Chicago test on triple-stacking going on, and results in the next 6-8 weeks might allow triple-stacking under certain conditions. Top caps are proposed on all pallets except those with cardboard sleeves. Proposed Revisions to Standards for Annual Fees and Use of Permit Imprints Ernest Collins, Mailing Standards, said that there is a Federal Register notice of May 4, for which the comment period closes June 20, to standardize fee procedures for bulk mailings. Points include: 1. Fee payment procedures--fee paid by the presenter of the mailing rather than for each permit used. 2. Statement of ownership--publication relaxed from second issue to any in October. 3. Company permit imprint allowed at even one office entry vs. two or more 4. Relax restrictions on design of permit imprints 5. Eliminate the key rate. Concern was expressed by industry over section 3.0 of the notice, Permit Imprint Content, which says that records for each mailing paid by company permit imprint must be kept for two years, and that the return address on each mailpiece must be the address at which the records are located. Also, Howard Schwartz of MPA expressed concern that the notice would result in publications with a frequency of less than weekly or bi-weekly being never able to publish Form 3526 in their October publications. When the form is filed at the very end of September, Conde Nast is currently working on producing their December issues for monthly publications, and the February/March issue of their bimonthly publications. If they had to publish the form in any of their October issues, they would have to file the form two months earlier than the current regulation mandates. He suggested that the language be changed to allow publications with a frequency less than weekly to publish Form 3526 in the first possible issue printed and distributed after October 1. Ernest said he did not think the intent was to make compliance more onerous, and that all concerned parties should send in their comments. National 2-C Focus Group at the Postal Forum Tom Tully said that issues discussed by the group focused on slippage in delivery, with some good local action. Service Issues 1. Ted Russell, MPA, said that there was a meeting on service at the Postal Forum, composed of industry representatives from all classes of mail, field Postal staff, and Postal Headquarters program people. The industry is concerned about how to get a handle on the service problem, and how to get the Postal Service to take action. He said that there has been little or no reaction to past MTAC service pleas, and that specific suggestions from the Policy, Requirements, and Methods committee that could improve service have not yet been implemented. 2. Lyn Seidler summarized the results of the survey on service sent to MTAC members by Charles Pace. There were responses from 9 associations, representing a broad range of types of publications. The responses were as follows: Question 1--Would you say that delivery is worse today than it was in 1992 when Postal Reorganization occurred? Be specific. 1. Yes (7 respondents). Most respondents have statistics to back this up. 2. About the same (2) Question 2--What steps have you taken as a result of adverse delivery service? 1. None (2) 2. Specific steps (7), including: --increased communications with Postal Service, monitoring of service (3) --adjusting printing schedules (2) --alternate delivery (2) --more entries --more air freight --priority drop-ship (though dislike complicated rules and delayed processing) --barcoding --palletizing and cobundling Question 3--what regulations could be changed within the worksharing operations of the USPS that would improve delivery? 1. none known (2) 2. specific suggestions (7), including: --finer sortation (2) --change pallet minimums --palletize to BMCs mixing pubs without extensive paperwork and with minimum pallet weight at 200-300 lbs --coop for small daily and weekly publisher to make more pallets --no sacks --restore identity to newspapers --incentives for drop-shipping mail beyond SCF level --streamline DMM 445--palletizing and bundling--for smaller publications --new SDC processing centers in Syracuse, Tampa, and central Texas --on HCR trucks with multi-stops require that sacks, pallets, containers be separated by rope, etc. -- make sure mail is not carried to next stop --process working sacks soon after arrival--don't hold to CET --simplify Express and Priority Mail drop-shipping --for express and priority mail drop shipments for other SCFs open and distribute to trucks at the AMF --use SCF prefixes on 3-digit sacks except unique cities --don't allow commingling of second-class mail with third class Question 4--Have you experienced or known of instances when postal transportation was changed that impacted delivery? How did it impact you? 1. Yes (5), including between contiguous SCFs (2) 2. No (4) Question 5--Have you found instances of critical entry times being changed that impacted your associations publications? 1. Yes, particularly in the Pacific area (1) 2. No (8) Question 6--Have you changed any copies to private delivery? 1. Yes (3) 2. No (6), though some of the 'no's were because of lack of delivery in areas needed, higher cost, or lack of density Question 7--Do you have any recommendations for the Postal Service on fixing the problems your association is experiencing? Suggestions include: --take mail out of BMCs (3) --combine service and processing and distribution, at headquarters and local level, so that someone has authority (3) --restore surface pref track for time-value pubs --provide direction on bypassing problem areas --revamp DMM 445 --provide SDC in central Florida Additional comments: --USPS is not really responsive to specific requests and ideas --USPS does not fully accept own responsibility for causing service problems 3. Following the presentation of the survey results, MTAC members discussed the need for Postal action. John Dorsey was asked to assist in getting service-related data from the members to the appropriate channels within the Postal Service. Members questioned how data from EX2C (the first full quarter of which will be available in August) will be used to improve service, and Frank Ippolito of Consumer Affairs said that the Postal Service is about to begin development of an early warning system for USPS Field Management using EX2C data. Ted Russell also asked Frank if EX2C results could be used as a benchmark for second-class service and compared to industry/mailer data. Ted wanted to use the EX2C information to measure whether the initiatives implemented by his ad hoc committee actually improve service. Frank later asked Ann Robinson, Consumer Affairs, and she concurred that EX2C results can be used as a benchmark. Also, members want a postal person to coordinate delivery issues. As the meeting closed, members were still discussing how best to pursue the service issue. Signed: Charles L. Pace, Chairman Date: 6/21/94 MTAC THIRD CLASS MAIL SUBCOMMITTEE June 15, 1994 William Armistead, Chair Jean Li Rogers, USPS Coordinator Bill Armistead announced he is stepping down as Third-Class Mail Subcommittee Chair and will not seek reelection. Elections for all MTAC subcommittee chairs will be held in August. Nominations are due July 22nd to Yvonne Riegle. The USPS reiterated its policy on the need to rubber band or use separators for five-digit mail on package based bundles. In the last rate case the decision was made to require mail to be put into trays for automation discount. Further discussions with customers led to the current requirement that bundling 5 digit packages be made for packaged rates for secondary sort. Although this may cause additional work for customers and USPS employees, there is no current plan to remove the restriction. Any changes may be part of the Reclassification effort. The pilot test of the Centralized Trust Account System (CTAS) to electronically send money from one office to another was very successful for the January-June period. Using the ACH network for overnight transfer of funds from office to the receiving bank, four national mailers in 14 mailing locations are participating in the pilot test. The USPS is testing procedures in the San Mateo PDC and local procedures in post offices that become involved. The big task ahead is to procure and deploy equipment in more post offices. The plan calls for equipment in 200-400 post offices. Customers interested in participating should contact Rosemary Hamel or Bill Healey, Program Manager in Customer Information and Product Support, for more information. Use of debit and credit cards at postal retail windows for postal products, including 3C bulk mailings, is being rested in Dallas, Orlando and Washington DC. The results of the pilot test are being used in a proposal for national roll- out. The topic is on the August agenda with the Board of Governors. The USPS is still looking into traying requirements for carrier-route mail. Available trays and pallets are needed for test. To improve service in the BMC system for the upcoming holiday season (September-February), the USPS has requested volume and equipment forecasts from customers for the 21 BMCs. The USPS is determining mail transport equipment needs by working with MTAC, USPS account managers and BMC specialists to identify mailers whose mail has the greatest impact on BMC operations. Only 12 of the 54 participants have returned the survey. Without additional returns, the USPS will use estimates that parcel post will increase 30% and BBM 10% in planning the Fall season. MTAC members advised the need to avoid double counting the projections of end users and those of intermediaries like printers, lettershops and mailing services. A list of those who agreed to participate is attached. Large mailers interested in participating should contact David Feigenbaum of A.C. Little at 202-268-6771 of FAX 202-479-0311 for the survey on disk of hardcopy. The USPS reiterated its policy that barcoded "fletters" must be put into trays rather than sacks of pallets to receive the letter automation rate. Traying preserves the machinability of the mailpiece and produces greater efficiency in reducing material handling costs. No blanket exception will be granted. Individuals with requests for exceptions should go through the usual channels. The difference in current requirements of 6 pieces per 2C bundle and 10 pieces per 3C bundle for non-automation and nonletter mail will be maintained. Any proposed changes may be discussed at next week's meeting of the Reclassification group. The USPS has designed non-denominated stamps for bulk mail to deal with rate increases during transition periods. Additional amounts will appear on mailing statements. In response to the suggestion that DIS and state sacks of Priority Mail drop ship be opened at AMFs and prompt transfer of 2C and 3C sacks be made to AMF outgoing trucks for more cost efficient service, the USPS explained that AMFs are designed to primarily provide service for 1C and expedited services. Most AMFs are not mechanized, not do they have the storage space and knowledgeable personnel to manage 2C and 3C. The USPS will not likely consider a bulk priority mail rate for priority mail drop ship since there is no financial benefit to the USPS and there is no worksharing involved. Formal studies on undelivered 3C mail conducted before the 1992 Reorganization found that most undelivered 3C mail was due to change of address. There is currently no formal study on this topic. EX3C is designed to study timely delivery, not undelivered mail. The primary focus of EX3C is to measure service performance. The data is shared on a regular basis with top USPS management to define exceptions and to identify and improve problem areas. Expansion to consider other aspects of service performance will occur in later phases of the program. William Armistead Subcommittee Chair MTAC MINUTES FOURTH-CLASS SUBCOMMITTEE June 15, 1994 Ed Meszaros, Industry Chair Tom Higgins, USPS Coordinator Ed Meszaros opened the meeting at 9:30 am by asking if any guests were present and, if there were, please to indicate such on the sign in sheet. Ed then introduced Stef Tolson who gave an update on the Shipper Paid Forwarding project. The target date for introduction is March 1, 1995. The critical software changes necessary for implementation should be ready January 1, 1995 and the March date allows for a short test period. Stephanie provided a handout describing the service and asking comments be sent to her by June 30, 1994. One problem still being addressed is the need to weigh the actual articles being forwarded. Existing work rules prevent PS Level 4 employees from weighing and rating a package; this function must be performed by a PS Level 5 or 6. Our Computerized Forwarding units do not have many Level 5 and 6 so adherence to this work rule may cause a bottleneck in the process. To overcome this we need customers to include package weight data in a keyline. The format calls for a maximum of 16 characters with the weight being represented by the first three. Questions were voiced about what endorsement would be needed and if the keyline was required. The endorsement issue has not been resolved and the keyline is optional. Next Mary Jane Crain discussed the External Fourth-Class (EX4C) Measurement System and began by explaining what has been accomplished to date. The test period was supposed to run during the month of May but has been moved back to June and will run until September. Cards have been shipped to some of the participants. There are 17 customers involved and the total number of cards will be around 100,000. One customer had a one-time mailing in May and included cards in the mailing. The response rate is running about 20%. Half of the cards are being sent with a stamp affixed and half Business Reply. The return rate for those with the stamps is running about 3% higher than the Business Reply. Each customer will receive information about their participation. A question was raised about the possibility of using a bar code for this effort. Mary Jane responded by saying the intent is to use a bar code when we have the technology available to do so. Mrs. Carin went on to say the information obtained will be shared with Postal Management from the PMG on down and individual information about a given company's experience will be shared with that company. Concern was expressed about customers not responding immediately when the package is received and that the recipients do not know they are participating in a test. Ed mentioned that an election for Industry Vice-chair would be held at the Industry meeting and then introduced Tom Higgins. Tom addressed a variety of subjects, among them the following. New York Metro Area had indicated they were going to take some actions to improve parcel post delivery in the area. They feel it is premature to discuss those actions at MTAC. An announcement regarding the proposed Bulk Business Parcel Service appeared in the Postal Bulletin. This announcement described what steps a mailer would take to participate in the data gathering effort. The Major Mailer Project (Track and Trace feasibility study) is still scheduled to begin in August at the Greensboro BMC. Although the contract has been awarded work has not yet begun. After the test runs at the Greensboro BMC for 2 months, it will be expanded to include the Des Moines BMC along with the addition of more mailers to the original four participating. The development of delivery confirmation is being developed separately. One issue which will impact the potential implementation date is the identification and purchase of delivery point (delivery unit of carrier on-the- street) scanners. Tom continues by mentioning the recent rule change allowing the $4.50 pickup fee, for pickup of parcel post, to be included as part of Merchandise Return Label Service and describing the "Orange" advertising campaign which included testimonial from Joe Ball of the Florida Gift Fruit Shippers Association. Dottie Madden brought the group up to date on the FASTNET Test being conducted in Orlando FL. The program has been in operation since early May and already has a few customers participating. FASTNET is overnight delivery of merchandise in a local area. Warehousing and order fulfillment is an element of the service than can be separately contracted for. Open discussion then began, which was centered on the recent notices appearing in the Federal Register. Two such notices have appeared in May. Identified were three issues: 1. Why was no copy of the notice provided to customers? 2. Why were the MTAC members not notified prior to publication? 3. The actual issues described in the Federal Register. It was decided these issues would be better addressed at the Industry meeting. The meeting adjourned at 11:00 a.m. Ed Meszaros Fourth-Class Co-Chair ADDRESSING AND ZIP+4 The meeting opened with a discussion of the Postal Service proposal to extend the option of delivery carrier service to customers in non-city delivery and non-delivery offices. Jackie Estes outlined the contents of the April 11 Federal Register notice which essentially drops the 1/4 mile restriction on extending delivery service. Customers who request extensions will still have to qualify under the existing condition for delivery extension, such as condition of the road, mileage traveled, etc. The Postal Service estimates that up to 8 million potential customers may be impacted. This opportunity requires customer action in requesting the extension. The customer would then use either a city style address or rural route and box number style address, depending on the addressing style which exists locally. One member questioned whether senior management was aware of the potential costs associated with extending or establishing the number of routes which may be involved. Jackie indicated that the information had been made available to senior management and added that this policy change was designed to address the needs of customers whose ability to use their local post office was limited through hours of operation, physical limitations, etc. Another member questioned why customer requests were necessary and Jackie replied that the customer must take action (placing a box at the side of the road) to receive delivery service and that is how the existing process works. Members and postal representatives agreed that the proposal does not fully address Lee Hill's proposal to use street addresses in lieu of post office box numbers, but does in part. A subcommittee was formed to further research the issue. Bob O'Brien discussed the ABC Address Quality subcommittee meeting and reviewed his company's experience with ACS, which showed increasing volumes of electronic notifications against hard copy. In light of the proposed rate changes for hard copy notifications ($.50 from $.35), a variety of options were proposed to reduce or eliminate hard copy notices to participants in ACS. A copy is attached. Further action is needed to further reduce the hard copy volumes and member input was solicited. Bob also reported on the Delivery Point ZIP Code proposal. This is now being viewed as only one potential tactic in an overall strategy to reduce the amount of non-codable mail. Mitch Gordon's group is conducting a study of the characteristics of non-automatable mail, which currently comprises 40% of the mail stream. The study will look at all classes and types of mail, assessing the readability, addressing and other issues related to automating. The study will also examine the use of barcodes by mailers. This analysis will be completed in the next three months. Address Element Correction (AEC) was the ABC Address Quality group's final topic of discussion. 122 customer have used Step 1, the computer resolution process. This amounts to 5 million records processed with an average resolution of 55%. 3 customers have participated in Step 2. Bob endorsed the use of Step 2, citing the need for additional users to help "build the habit" for delivery unit personnel. He proposed that companies who commit to Step 2 processing not be charged the fees associated with Step 1. Harry Aldstadt described a proposed carrier route sequencing product to be derived from AMS II. The product would consist of 31 million records and the file layout would contain the ZIP Code, ZIP+4 code range (low to high), line of travel number, ascending or descending number indicator, record type code and carrier route id. A subcommittee was formed to examine the proposed product and make recommendations. A question was raised about the timing requirements for use of this new product. The response was that it will probably mirror the quarterly update requirements of the other AIS products. George Hurst discussed system certification which is scheduled for implementation in late summer or early fall. A Federal Register notice is planned for July to announce the program, with expanded notice and comment period. System certification is designed to get away from physical verification of mailings at a DMU or acceptance unit. The approach is to certify a system which consistently produces high quality mail versus looking at the actual mailings themselves. Available to all mailers, the process has four required elements and two optional ones. A copy of the presentation is attached. Paul Bakshi discussed Z4Change, a product designed to identify those ZIP+4 codes which experience some sort of change, from carrier route id to number range. Peter Moore called the current product format 'ponderous' and suggested that the product only contain "change" information instead of the entire range of ZIP+4 codes. Jim Schemmel suggested there be a process to send the Postal Service information when customers supply mailers with ZIP+4 code information, particularly from institutions and military bases. He also suggested the format of the ZIP Move product be re examined. A subcommittee was formed to experiment with the products and advise the Postal Service on changes. Paul also noted that the CDS product would be fulfilled from local sites for the July release. The origin SCF versus origin BMC labeling issue raised by Russ Shore in the previous meeting was not addressed, since we are having difficulty getting anyone in the USPS to take ownership of the problem. Russ was asked to pursue the question and report back. Mailer's Technical Advisory Committee Engineering & Technology/Transportation Sub-Committee Wednesday, June 15, 1994 Rigid Items In Letter Mail: How can the face of an individual envelope be marked to avoid going through the AFCS John Reid of Processing Policies and Programs discussed the problems associated with rigid items that are found in the letter mailstream. He stated that these items can consist of buttons, pens, and the new musical and talking greeting cards. Presently, most of this mail goes through the Postal Service's cancellation machines, the Advance Facer Canceler Systems, Micro Marks, and the Mark II operations. They are not all culled out, which causes our equipment to jam. The talking and musical greeting cards sometimes contain a small micro chip that is damaged as it goes through the cancellation equipment, causing the receiver to get a greeting card that doesn't play the song it was designed to play. One suggested solution to this problem is to require a visual marking on the envelope indicating that these mailpieces should be hand canceled. This is currently being done by some greeting card companies, but because the Postal Service no longer hand culls mail in many areas this is not a viable solution. Due to the new equipment used to cancel mail, Postal employees do not have a chance to visually examine each piece of mail to determine if it should be hand canceled. Although this does not address the problem totally, the postal service would still like to have some sort of identification mark on the mailpiece. Another possible solution is to require the use of thicker types of envelopes, or the insert to be thicker with some protection padding around the card, or the card should be placed in a padded type envelope. Any of these will cause the envelope to appear more than 1/4 of an inch thick. This will cause the mailpiece to be rejected and prevent it from being damaged. John's third possible solution is to require that the envelope be a flat size envelope or a larger size envelope over 11 inches by 6.125 inches. This will cause the mailpiece to be rejected and fall into a hamper for hand canceling. The question was raised that shouldn't the dimensions be 11.5 by 6 1/8 inches? John stated that the dimensions of 11 inches by 6.125 inches are based on specifications for the equipment for what mailpieces can run through the Advance Facer Canceler System. He also stated the AFCS has a fine cull stacker that removes pieces whose height is more than 6.125 inches or less than 3.5 inches, length is more than 11.5 inches or less than 5 inches, too stiff, more than 1/4 inch thick, or whose address is skewed. This system is used for collection mail. The statement was made that a lot of people are doing bulk mailings of mailpieces of this type as well, which this does not address. John replied that if the mailpieces are mailed as bulk mail, they can bypass this type of operation. He stressed that if the mailpieces in a bulk mail contain some type of identification mark, the Postal Service can isolate them through the mail flow. Marcus Smith stated that the problem of putting an official identifier on the front of a mailpiece is that postal employees don't get a chance to look at the front very often. Marcus asked why not put the identifying mark on the top edge of the envelope, a standard stripe that would indicate that this piece should not be run through any automation. John replied that they are open to all ideas and suggestions concerning this problem. Currently there is no way to uniformly identify these types of mailpieces. Chris Rebello stated that he thinks what John is trying to do is not to solve the problem here, but put a group together that would work together to figure out how to solve this problem. He also stated that it not only damages the mailpiece, but if it gets downstream and gets into the mail sorter it damages the equipment and the mailpiece behind it. John stated that they want to form a work group to consider a means of capturing this type of mail. He gave out business cards to those who wanted to be a member of the customer support work group. They plan to have a meeting sometime in July to consider these ideas and come up with some type of uniform way to solve this problem. Transportation Information Management Evaluation System (TIMES) Jim Nawrot, who works in the transportation department of Pat Mcgee in the local networks operations, has been the TIMES program manager for the last two years. Jim stated that there has been a change in the deployment of Times. Initially the deployment schedule was based on going from one area to another area in the country and completing an entire area. Because of some delays and a real business need to get the system out, they have changed the deployment schedule to go to the 21 BMCs initially. The target date for completion is September 30, 1994. The wide-area network infrastructure is in place with only a couple of minor exceptions. They have procured and taken possession of the LAN hardware and software, and the site surveys have been completed at the BMCs. On July 25, 1994 they will start with the first BMC and will have completed all BMCs by the 30th of September. After this is completed, they are going to see how the system is working and whether they are getting exactly what they anticipated out of it. This assessment will probably take a week or two before they will move on the major processing and distribution centers and continue the deployment. This will be a national deployment concentrating on our largest facilities first and working our way down to the smaller facilities. The initial deployment will contain interfaces with both the Drop Ship System and the PIP System for the perishable mailers. This will be a two-way interface so that as appointments are made in Drop Ship and in PIP they will automatically be down loaded to TIMES and appear as part of the inbound arrival profile for the individual facility. When these are closed out by the dock clerk at that facility, information will then flow back to the Drop Ship and PIP system where it will show the close out data. As long as the appointment is made in Drop Ship or PIP it will be down loaded and closed out by the TIMES system. The original concept for TIMES, and still the ongoing one, is that the data collection would be done via hand held computers. Because of procurement delays of the hand held computers they are going to deploy to the BMCs using personal computers located on the docks at the work stations of the dock clerks and expediters. At some point when the procurement is completed for the hand held computers they will replace the PCs at the majority of the facilities with the hand held radio frequency devices at the larger facilities and non wireless hand held devices at the smaller facilities. The other key feature with this version of TIMES is network data sharing. Information from the origin is shared with the down stream offices and the close out data is back fed so that each facility will have a complete record of what actually occurred on its transportation. The rail interface is going to be delayed from the start. They are looking for it to be in place by mid August. For drop ship mailers this is not an issue, because it will still back feed to the Drop Ship System and close out information will be there via TIMES. But for mailers that may be using our transportation via rail it will be a two stop shopping. They can get some information in the Drop Ship System, and the other information in the REDI system. In two of the BMCs they will have the data collection actually done by Yard Control. Yard Control System is another development specially designed for BMCs, which will not only gather the information but also control their yard operations. Memphis and Chicago will be the two pilot sites for this system. Once Yard Control has been tested and is developed and ready to go it will replace TIMES at BMCs. Yard Control will collect information at the BMCs and share that information with the TIMES network and the TIMES network will then send the information throughout the system. Marcus Smith asked how will mailers be able to access this data? John replied that any mailer using the Drop Shipment System will be able to access the close out information as it is available to them now in the Drop Shipment System. There is also an inquiry mode in the REDI system for rail information. No time frame or dates have been established for the interface for the rail and TIMES system. MLOCR Update John Mampe spoke about what the Engineering, Research and Development department is doing to improve the process on the MLOCRs. Within the last few months software updates, version 5.0, have been deployed nationwide. This has provided some increase in the encoding rate and reduced the error rate on the machine. Every six months, John stated, they try to have a new software release as they identify specific problems and areas where they can further improve the system itself. In Merrifield VA they have installed a new camera on one of the machines which has improved the quality of the image that is provided to the rest of the machine for character recognition and for processing the information around the address area such as checks and pattern backgrounds. They are currently evaluating this camera, and if it continues to perform well over a large volume of mail, this camera will be a retrofit to all of the machines in the field. This will also give the MLOCRs the capability to read address block bar codes. The next improvement is improving the address location function. Occasionally the MLOCR will read the return address on the mailpiece. To address this problem they have taken on the task of redesigning the firmware within that portion of the machine, going through the original code to try and determine what it is the machine does wrong when it grabs the return address. During the August/September time frame they will be testing a set of specifications they have developed and if everything goes well they plan to deploy the modification to the field before the end of the year. They think this will solve a majority of the system's current return addresses reading problems. John asked the members of MTAC to provide him with sample mailpieces that they know are having a problem where some of the mail is being returned to the generator of that mailpiece, and they will include them in the testing and evaluation of these product changes. The MLOCRs have been integrated with a second address directory. They are processing live mail at Merrifield using two directories that actually process the information on every mailpiece and determine which address is correct. This has enabled them to further reduce the error rate and increase the amount of mail being coded by machine. The last item John spoke about was recognition improvements. They are building a parallel recognition system that is also talking to the machine so that processing for one mailpiece is done through two pieces of hardware. By doing this they think they can accommodate some of the limitations that are inherent in the recognition and address block location function. The testing so far looks very promising. ABC Update - Sig Guthman Sig Guthman gave a presentation on the new challenges the ABC Focus Group has taken on. The first challenge is that the Lettermail Focus Group will be concentrating on a program called "Assessment of Barcoding, Addressing and Readability." This is in line with the Focus Group's overall emphasis on improving addresses to support automation. Sig stressed that this Lettermail Focus Group's work is broader than its current name implies. At the ABC Core Group meeting, Bill Dowling led a discussion about their overall role. He explained that only about 40% of today's mail is automatable, i.e. can be bar-coded. Their job, together with the Postal Service, is to move to 100%. Their challenge for the future is to understand the remaining 60%, break it down into bite size elements, and reduce and eliminate stumbling blocks. Sig said Bill went on to say that if the problems are not corrected, the inevitable result will be that the non-barcoded pieces in the mailstream will be disadvantaged rate-wise. In reference to the Flats Focus Group, Sig said they recognize that as it is presently constituted, flats automation is not working. He said that Bill Dowling suggested that mailers and the Postal Service work together to develop some boundaries to define just what will work and what restrictions are beyond the bounds of acceptability from the mailer's point of view. The Flats Automation Focus Group has been asked to prepare a white paper listing the flat automation issues that need answers and solutions. A final area of study will be undertaken by a new group called, "Material and Information Management Focus Group." This will be the former Containers/Transportation Focus Group with Bob Lindsay as the chairman. Its focus will be the broad subject of intelligent materials handling approaches, and the use of byproducts information from bar codes. Flat's Poly Wrap Update - Ed Kuebert Ed reported to the group that the first phase of the testing of poly wrap for flats is completed. The final results are not in yet. The test was held in three sites, Seattle, Denver and Jacksonville. Based on some of the problems in Seattle, some of the vendors changed their mailpiece and had a different sample in Denver. This didn't work. They looked at data such as static electricity build up on the mailpieces, number of jams, temperature and humidity. They are going to try and correlate those different items and come up with a set of circumstances for some poly that really works. The goal is to determine if they can define an across the board poly. Ed also stated that they did process some shrink wrap poly that seemed to work. He asked the group to give some thought to what would be necessary to shrink wrap poly, and whether it would be a viable process. He stated that he had recently visited a couple of European postal administrations and it was very interesting to look through the mail there. The flats that were generated in Europe that were poly wrap were all shrink wrapped, while the flats that were generated in the United States were loose. He suggested that they might think about contacting some of their counterparts in Europe to find out how they are doing shrink wrapping and making it a viable operation. Dick Funk made a few comments for the industry side regarding the test. He stated that they were very disappointed that Ed did not get a lot of pieces to test. He went on to say that several months ago Norm Scharpf of GCA contacted the poly industry and identified 12 major producers of poly. Out of the group only three responded. They responded with a very narrow limited type of piece for Ed to test, basically 8.5 x 11, very light weight, one to two ounces, made up of inserts of varying degrees of flexibility. One mailer, Readers Digest, did put their own product in the test. As far as the poly vendors were concerned, it was a very limited scope. The test did not conclude any universality at all. He suggested that for those members who are interested in this subject to talk to their vendors and have them contact Ed at Merrifield, because they were disappointed with the response. Ed stated that he wanted to recognize the efforts of the three vendors participating in the test, Solar Press, Poly Flex, and Admiral Packing. He said these three companies have been providing samples and working really hard with them for two years trying to make this project a success. Parcel Poly Wrap update - Professor Marcus Langston Professor Langston stated that they are finishing up the diaphanous membranes project. He gave an overview of the three types of membranes they looked at and an overview of the workings of a parcel bar code sorter. He stated that they looked at what was inhibiting the bar code read. After he presented his findings for the three types of membranes, he gave the group some things they can do to improve the reading of their bar codes. First he said they need to look at the three types of errors, no-read, missort, and substitution. The no-read error is when the parcel's barcode is not read. This is not a significant problem. The next error is a mis-read by the scanner. The most critical error is the substitution error. He said that if you are entering ZIP codes by hand you have the potential for greater delivery delays, because that parcel can be misdirected to another area if the operator keys in the wrong ZIP information. He told the group they could eliminate the substitution error, if they had confidence in their data base and put their own bar code on their parcels. Also he suggested that they eliminate the wrinkles, reduce the air gap between the parcel and the film by placing the label near one of the parcel's corners, use a thinner film, and print two bar codes on the parcel. Printing two bar codes on the parcels will increase the read rate. Containers Focus Group Update - Bob Lindsay One of the items this group has been working with is the BMC Activity Report. Bob said that at the last MTAC meeting Michele Denny had said she would work with several of them on ways of improving this report. As a result of those meetings they have come up with three versions of the report. One makes clearer the definitions for the current report. The next one is a ten day forecast of what the reservation situation looked like in terms of drop ship appointments. The third version is also a ten day forecast showing dates that reservations are not available. Some members of the group said that if the Drop Shipment System is made available by the end of September there is no need to make adjustments to the current BMC Activity Report. Because most people will be making their reservations through the computer, they will know whether they can get reservations. Others in the group felt that they should go at least with the ten day forecast. The Drop Ship Appointment System is due to come on line in September. One issue that needs to be resolved is to define who is the owner of the mail. For the first phase of the system, the person making the reservation is the owner of the mail for the sake of the system. This is the person who will have the logon ID to make the reservations, determine if the truck arrived on time and when it was unloaded. There has also been some discussion that maybe the publisher should also have access to the system to query on just their own mail. This is still being worked out. Another item of concern is the definition of system abuse. This would include a mailer making false appointments, no shows and frequent cancellations. The group is working on the definition of system abuse and what type of penalty should be used. The use of a Speed Line is also being explored. The Speed Line concept is akin to supermarkets when you have ten items or less, or your truck has 4 pallets or less, you will be directed to a speed line dock. Bob stated that the group is working to define what number of pallets and how much unload time constitute a Speed Line Dock. The next item Bob reported on was Volume Forecasting. The volume forecasting surveys to anticipate the late summer and fall volumes have been sent out. The survey was sent to 56 customers, representing 128 plants. As of June 8, 1994 only five customers had responded. He asked that if there was anyone in the room who had not responded to the survey, to do so. A. D. Little is working with the Postal Service to collect the data via diskette. A discussion occurred on mail transport equipment as to what the procurement volumes are going to be for pallets, sacks and trays. For the most part it seems that the amount of equipment being procured by the Postal Service is more than adequate to cover the anticipated volumes. However there was some concern over the nature of the procedure or policy that allows mailers to buy equipment using their own money during shortages of equipment and later be reimbursed by the Postal Service. Also of some concern was the effect that traying of carrier route mail might have on the number of trays in the system. Bob also reported on Fred Seymore's presentation entitled, "Private Sector Distribution Enhancement Proposal." He recommended that those who had not seen the proposal should take a look at it. Review of Pallet Regulations - Jim Cunningham Jim reported on the proposed pallet makeup changes that will appear in the next Federal Register. First the weight minimum will be reduced to 500 pounds across the board. There will also be some additional relaxation in regard to letter trays. There will no longer be a weight minimum, and three layers of MM trays or two layers of EMM trays will be allowed. For flats the minimum weight will be 250 pounds for each 3-digit or 5-digit. The pallet position maximum height will be 77 inches, and 2200 pounds, including tare weight, will be the maximum for all mail. Jim stated that in order to get the benefits of the increase amounts cross dock pallets, they are going to insist on the enforcement of the current regulations that prohibit courtesy and convenience pallets. Industry Communications Database - Dan Minnick Dan reported the MAIL.DAT which is a summary data base that represents a mailing described in a standard format. MAIL.DAT opens the way for industry wide support of Postal Electronic Payment System (PEPS). Each of the national qualifications software vendors have committed to support the standard. This means that anyone using nationally supplied software will be able to provide to the Postal Service this data set regardless of the point of acceptance. MAIL.DAT is a set of data bases linked together. It has job, container, package and single piece detail. Dan said they hope to publish this format by this fall. The meeting concluded at 12:45 An Executive Summary of the Mailer's Technical Advisory Committee June 16, 1994 Mr. John Wargo opened the meeting with a brief discussion of the new MTAC meeting format, focusing on service. In response to MTAC inquiries, a new component of the meeting agenda will include "account services," which will attempt to reach farther back in the mail process to include more of the mailing functions that begin at the printers and letter shops. Committee Structure and Mission Mr. Ted Russell discussed the committee structure and mission, noting that a small steering group had been established at the Postal Forum to look at the issue of service. The committee is composed of individuals from the Postal Service, MTAC, and outside users not members of MTAC, and there is a provision for calling in experts when needed. That first meeting focused on the structure of the committee, looking at subcommittees, and on whether to organize based on mail type or specific issues. The main committee agreed that focusing on the fall service situation would be most responsive, encouraging more communications, conducting site visits and surveys, and developing positive recommendations and reports for the Postal Service. The primary concern is third- and fourth- class because of the wide fluctuations in load. First and second-class, because of the relative stability of the flow, will be left to the MTAC subcommittees. MTAC subcommittees that sense a need are invited to form ad hoc groups to interact with this steering committee. The mission statement, Mr. Russell said, could be summed up in a few words: this cooperative effort by the industry and the Postal Service will identify problems, develop proposed solutions and recommendations, recommend process improvements, and open new and more effective lines of communication wherever possible. We will locate a contact within the Postal Service to facilitate communication, and the communication process will be clearly defined to be most effective. Mail Transport Equipment Ms. Karen Uemoto, responsible for transportation, conceded that there is still concern about the fall workloads, but that positive moves are underway to improve the situation over last year. In 1994, for example, the purchase of pallets was double that of 1993, and will increase again in 1995. There are five initiatives in place to respond to the MTE needs. First, there is an internal effort to catalog, assess and repair all equipment, and controls are being considered to maintain a high quality, fully functional MTE program. Second there is an external recovery program to identify locations where MTE items are either being misused or are being used in an unauthorized way. Third, a national ordering system is being implemented to maintain local supplies and efficient national supply when necessary. There are also organizational changes to make communication more direct and more efficient. Fourth, the Postal Service is developing MTE distribution plans for better service to major mailers, and adding an emergency source when the planned sources are unable to meet the needs. Fifth, communication throughout the Postal Service about MTE problems and solutions has been emphasized. Concerning new products a new "throw-away" one-time use sack in various sizes is being ordered for the Christmas period and there is an effort to increase the supply of hampers, including a look at an experimental plastic hamper. Users may expect a trend toward plastic pallets. Showing the concentration of mailers in the midwest, Ms. Uemoto explained that plans are being made to place MTE processing plants in locations that will facilitate the redistribution of MTEs as they tend to migrate east and south (or rolling stock that tends to end up in the west). When shortages occur, mailers should call the local AMTES area transport equipment specialist, who is part of a national network that can respond to needs anywhere in the country. There is probably a limited amount of hoarding by both customers and USPS plants to prepare for the fall peaks, but the new system should gain credibility and alleviate some of that artificial shortage. Responding to a comment about bar coding pallets and trays, Mr. Uemoto confirmed the move in that direction. Another comment, about possible expense related to drop ship pallets, prompted an acknowledgment that the USPS would look into any new process or pricing that moved the shipper away from destination and back to origin drop ship BMC. An effort is underway to assess the impact of lower pallet minimums on pallet volume. Ms. Uemoto discussed MTE processing. MTEs, she said, are worked at ten plants; sacks and trays go to MTECs (10) and warehouses (50); rolling stock goes to container repair centers (between 50 and 75). The Greensboro facility consolidates all of those functions under one roof, and it is run by an outside contractor. The Postal Service is looking at about 31 sites for similar operations. Several members suggested the importance of waiting to see the new pallet regulations related to the expense of making up larger pallets, the requirements for top capping, and so on. Mr. Shick announced that a small group of employees from the field had been formed to interact with industry and other groups concerning problems that occur at the field level, with an eye to involving them in meetings such as the GCA conference in July, and ultimately involved with MTAC in some way. Purpose is to increase communication with users and with USPS management. Forecast Status Mr. Robert Sheehan then discussed the status of forecasting programs for the fall mailing season including equipment needs and uses, drop ship enhancement, volume forecasting, containerization changes and the effect of the pallet changes. In the area of equipment, RBCS activities have been advanced to give more capacity and faster coding. More sorting equipment is being added, including the next generation of the bar code sorter, the carrier sequence bar coder. Thirty more special parcel/bundle sorters are going on line before January, and the bar code equipment installed in the BMCs last fall is working well. Volume forecasting information continues to be needed from the industry. Only seven of the 53 companies have responded so far. The BMC network is receiving corporate wide focus to insure its readiness to handle the projected 30% increase in volume this fall. Thirty-eight (38) parcel induction stations are being added to increase sorting capacity. Each station can process approximately 1000 to 2000 pieces per hour. Additionally, nine BMCs are being outfitted with direct feed to the "secondary" capability which will allow the center to send parcels directly to the secondary sorters, bypassing the primary sorter. Mailers will then have the option of sorting their mail to "BMC secondary" and gaining deeper penetration into the system. The zip codes for each secondary (each BMC has two "secondaries") will be provided. This fall the BMCs will supplement their operation with an "annex" which is an additional facility in close proximity to the BMC. These "annexes" will provide added sorting capacity for the BMCs. For the most part they will serve as cross dock facilities for pallet shipments of a 2C/3C/parcels and NMOs as well as NMO sorting centers. Mailers will be provided detailed information on each annex, (i.e., locations, hours of operation, manager, phone number, directions) so they can best utilize this added resource. Concerning the proposed pallet rules, Mr. Sheehan said, they should anticipate an industry standard top cap. The rules will detail how to handle double and triple stack pallets. The program is designed to get more 3- and 5-digit pallets into the system. In response to some of the objections and observations about the proposed pallet rules, Mr. Sheehan observed that the USPS was requiring no more than what is basically standard practice in the materials handling industry. MTAC member Mr. Russell explained a cooperative arrangement with the USPS called "integrated marketing" that might be appropriate for other firms. He said it combined the existing structure (communications, reservations, volume forecasting, identification of target delivery days, direct mail response rates) into a signed agreement that brought all parties involved into an awareness of the process -- printers, letter shops, transport contractors, the company and the Postal Service. It is a program that should be expanded. A member commented that an informal group at the Postal Forum recommended some simplification of the forecasting forms, noting that year-long predictions may be essential, that the detail may be reduced, and that the respondents could be counseled on how to most easily develop the detail that is required (e.g., from the previous Christmas volumes). Mr. Sheehan agreed that the form was somewhat complicated, but urged members to use past data and not get bogged down if some data was not readily available. Service Initiatives Ms. Michele Denny discussed Priority Mail service initiatives, beginning with the comment that Priority Mail volume is increasing, up some 15% since last year. There have been some problems in achieving consistent two-day service. A team has reviewed operations at various sites and developed standard operating procedures (SOPs), which put responsibility for service on the Manager, Distribution Operations, at 32 high volume sites. The MDOs have pulled together an on-site team to monitor some 20 standard procedures. To back them up, 32 managers from Headquarters have been designated as "partners" for these sites. The partners will make monthly visits to their sites and provide support to the MDO and their team. The SOPs include segregating retail units, dedicated staffing, dedicated space within the facility and reserved time on mechanized equipment. Finally, the Finance Department has developed a new report for the field that provides additional information regarding originating the destinating failures. The long term re-engineering effort continues with a detailed examination of existing processes to identify opportunities to better satisfy our customer requirements. The output of this effort will be recommendations for changes to our networks, structure and procedures that will provide for excellent sustainable service levels. Mr. Porwick explained that the efforts to improve service included the already described mail flow processes and a change in staffing, whereby more permanent carriers are being added to respond to increased volumes. A third important area of progress is delivery point sequencing, which is proceeding well. It proves consistent distribution and time of delivery and is mainly dependent on the installation of the appropriate sorting equipment. Mailers can help, he said, by providing more pre-bar coded mail and by updating their own software as the routes are changed in the system. Mr. Porwick added that the volume spikes of the last Christmas season were something of a surprise and that the Postal Service was planning for a similar increase. The anticipated improvements from automation are occurring, but the time from for completion (which would result in the full predicted 1-2 hour time savings per route from sequencing) has been stretched a little, from 1995 to 1997. Mr. Porwick also noted that the original estimate of 2 hours savings had been revised slightly downwards for various reasons. Election Results Ms. Reigle announced that Chris Rebello had been elected Industry Vice Chairman for 1995-1996. The meeting was adjourned at 12:05 p.m.