Manassas, VA, employee Felicia Lott works in Northern Virginia District’s passports call center.
The center’s goals are to boost passport revenues, balance processing workloads and reduce passport-related calls to Post Offices.
“We look forward to promising results,” said Acting Marketing Manager Anthony Prisco. The district will analyze the data collected during the test and identify best practices that can be shared throughout the Postal Service, he said.
USPS began accepting passport applications on the State Department’s behalf in 1975. The Postal Service processed 5.2 million applications last year, generating about $166.7 million in passport-related revenue.
Northern Virginia District’s call center, which opened this month, accepts reservations for seven of the district’s 44 passport processing locations.
Customers receive an automated reservation confirmation and appointment reminders, as well as links to online forms.
By providing this information ahead of time, the district hopes more customers will arrive with completed forms and other required documents, thus speeding processing times.
Other recent passport initiatives include a “mega passports office” at the Glendale, CA, Post Office.