2010 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations - USPS.com

Chapter 3: Operations
are available for employees directly involved with customers. The
Mailers’ Technical Advisory Committee joined in the awareness
campaign, which included sessions at the National Postal Forum
(NPF), Web site guidelines, and Q&As. The Postal Service and NPF
co-sponsored national symposia, and Postal Customer Councils
across the country conducted workshops to increase mailer
awareness and participation.
<strong>2010</strong> DECENNIAL CENSUS MAILINGS
The U.S. Census Bureau successfully used Full-Service Intelligent
Mail for the <strong>2010</strong> Decennial Census, mailing 400 million pieces,
the largest IMb mailing to date. Intelligent Mail allowed the Census
Bureau to monitor delivery to every address, handle work flows
efficiently, improve response rates, and save money. At the same
time, the mailings demonstrated the power of Intelligent Mail and
provided the Postal Service unprecedented visibility of mail as it
moved through the system.
Because the Postal Service had total visibility and tracking
throughout each phase of the process, it knew where every piece
was at all times and could expediently handle service issues.
Real-time data confirmed nearly 100 percent on-time delivery.
Visibility also enabled a coordinated multichannel advertising
campaign timed to the arrival of questionnaires in the customer’s
mailbox. The result was a customer response rate at least 5 percent
better than projected. Visibility also let the Census Bureau know
which households had responded by mail and could therefore avoid
subsequent mailings or the need for a door-to-door enumerator.
By using the IMb to help manage program costs, the Census Bureau
came in under budget, saving $1.6 billion. For the Postal Service,
the mailings generated over $202 million in revenue and saved at
least $7 million by avoiding the costs of returning undeliverable mail.
SCANNING AND SUPPORT SYSTEMS
The heart of visibility — the ability to track individual mailpieces
through postal processing — is mailpiece and container barcode
scanning. Barcode scans provide “start-the-clock” data at entry
points and “stop-the-clock” data upon delivery. Barcode scans
measure service performance and provide critical data to handle any
service issues. During <strong>2010</strong>, more than 157 billion IMb scans were
processed. Most were “passive” in-process scans on automated
equipment. The Intelligent Mail Visibility Service system, which
combines passive scan data from processing with “active” scan data
from other systems, transmitted over 372 billion scans to nearly a
dozen corporate data systems.
The Postal Service established a new Product Visibility and
Operational Performance office to drive continued improvement
in the quality and amount of information principally for package
operations. Improving scanning performance is a priority, and since
formation of this office, national scan performance has improved
3.3 percent. On-time delivery and scanning performance are now
equally weighted in the corporate goals for Express Mail, Priority
Mail, and Parcel Select.
Surface Visibility is the term given to multiple integrated systems
that track mailings as they are transported within the postal network.
It provides real-time and diagnostic information for optimizing
performance. Quality controls embedded at multiple points in the
systems reduce misdirected and missent mail. The scanning of
containers on loading docks provides accurate departure information
for planning at downstream processing facilities and records how
efficiently trailers are utilized as they are loaded.
The Postal Service’s Surface Visibility scans verify actual deposit
of mail by linking containers to electronic manifests. Among other
benefits, this check improves accountability for contractors who
print, prepare, and transport customers’ mail. Two important
components are the Seamless Acceptance and Service Performance
(SASP) system, which supports mailers participating in Full-Service
Intelligent Mail, and the Facility Access and Shipment Tracking
(FAST) system, which mailers use to provide advance notification of
drop shipment mailings.
SASP is used to associate mailer manifest data (such as eDoc) with
operational data (such as scheduled appointments and barcode
scans) and reference data (such as Customer Registration ID, Mailer
ID, facility, delivery points). The system captures and stores large
volumes of mailing data and automates several acceptance activities
as part of its integration with PostalOne! It determines start-theclock,
service standards, stop-the-clock, and service variance, and
provides performance data for internal management and for external
reporting.
In addition to supporting visibility, FAST provides customers with a
means to schedule and manage destination entry of mail into postal
plants. With the Postal Service’s complementary Mailer Rating
program, mailers who provide advance notification and arrive at the
scheduled time with the amount of mail shown on their appointment
will have improved access. Mailers can track their drop shipments,
<strong>2010</strong> <strong>Comprehensive</strong> <strong>Statement</strong> on Postal Operations | 21