Have New Service Standards Impacted First-Class Mailers?

Project Title: Timeliness of First Class Mail Flats Start Date: June 16, 2015 Estimated Report Release Date: December 2015 In 2011, based on dramatically declining mail volumes and the subsequent excess capacity in its mail processing network, the Postal Service announced plans to revise its service standards, which would enable it to streamline its mail…

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USPS OIG Audit Report: Area Mail Processing Consolidations

Background In 2011, the U.S. Postal Service announced the Network Rationalization Initiatives (NRI), which involved potentially consolidating or closing 252 of 487 mail processing facilities. During 2012 and 2013, the Postal Service consolidated 141 mail processing facilities during Phase 1 of the NRI. The projected annual savings were about $865 million. In the summer of…

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Tucson welcomes reprieve in transfer of Cherrybell operations to Phoenix

By Yoohyun Jung – May 26, 2015 The consolidation of the Tucson Cherrybell postal processing center has been postponed from this summer to next year. “The Postal Service has extended the timeline for most of the mail processing consolidating activities originally planned for this summer,” the U.S. Postal Service said in an email statement. “Planned…

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USPS Network Rationalization Service Standard Impacts

Published by USPS on January 2, 2015 The postal facility consolidation proposals developed in accordance with the USPS Handbook PO-408 Area Mail Processing (AMP) guidelines that are part of the Network Rationalization Plan were submitted for public comment and acted upon by postal management in early 2012. Consistent with Pub.L. 109-435, Title III, § 302(c)(3)(D)(ii),…

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USPS OIG: Lack of Service Standard Change Information in Area Mail Processing Feasibility Studies

Audit Report – NO-MA-15-001 – 10/06/2014 [PDF] Conclusion The Postal Service has not analyzed the impact of planned service standard changes or informed stakeholders of the changes related to Phase 2 consolidations. Specifically, management did not complete the service standard impacts worksheet in 91 of the 95 AMP feasibility studies. The other four feasibility studies…

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Tucson’s Cherrybell Post Office processing center to close in April

(September 12, 2014) TUCSON – As new digital technology takes over, the U.S. Postal Service continues shrinking its operations. It’s been happening here in Tucson for some time now with the partial shut-down of the Cherrybell mail processing center in 2011. Now the post office will cease all letter sorting, handing the job off to…

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