Ketchikan Postal Services By Ron Haberman February 10, 2014
I would like to take this opportunity to respond to a letter to the editor regarding the U.S. Postal Service written by David G. Hanger of Ketchikan and published on Feb. 3, 2014. First, the U.S. Postal Service’s goal each and every day is to better serve the changing mailing and shipping needs of American industry and the American public without burdening the American taxpayer. Contrary to Mr. Hanger’s statement, the Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies solely on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. To that end, the Postal Service has been very aggressive in reducing costs, including decreasing its annual cost base by $16 billion and reducing the size of its career workforce by more than 200,000 employees since 2006. Regarding Mr. Hanger’s assertion of long wait lines at the Post Office, we first want to apologize for any inconvenience but also point out that the Postal Service conducts secret shopping experiences regularly at all of its 30,000 retail outlets and the Ketchikan Post Office prides itself on the perfect scores it has received on several occasions in recent years. That said, we cannot and will not rest on the Postal Service’s previous accomplishments. USPS suffered a net loss of five billion dollars last fiscal year, our seventh consecutive year for net losses. This harsh reality only highlights the need for us to continue to seek new growth opportunities – like our new agreement to deliver for Amazon – to reduce costs and the urgent need for Congress to pass comprehensive legislation to provide a long-term solution to our financial challenges. The evaluation of our mail collection, sorting and delivery procedures as well as public retail hours is taking place at Post Offices throughout Alaska and across the country. This is a normal business practice by the Postal Service, and part of our due diligence is to evaluate operations in order to improve efficiencies. To that end, USPS decided to eliminate old technology in the Ketchikan facility and instead have Ketchikan’s letters – 1,500 to 3,000 a day -- processed on a machine in Juneau. We already have existing flights that carry mail between Ketchikan and Juneau and can report – barring inclement weather – delivery times between the two cities meet our service standards. USPS does provide meter strips for single-piece mailings, but we ask customers with large orders to apply the postage themselves to ensure other customers can receive prompt and courteous service. Also, I am aware of only one incident where the Ketchikan Post Office was out of stock for stamped envelopes which was cleared up in matter of two or three days with an emergency order by our Postmaster. I’d like to add that we are exploring opportunities to reopen a Contract Postal Unit (CPU) in Ketchikan and hoping a private business will come forward to offer that service which is a tremendous resource for customers seeking postal products and services. The Postal Service prides itself on its commitment to customer service, achieved because of the tremendous dedication and effort of our employees. It is to their credit that the organization continues to function at a high level, providing the type of service our customers and communities expect. Sincerely, Ron Haberman, Manager Received February 07, 2014 - Published February 10, 2014 Related Viewpoint:
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