Drop in U.S. first class mail deliveries
At its peak in 2001, the U.S. Postal Service delivered 103.7 billion pieces of first-class mail.
But as the Internet and cellular technologies continued to boom, that number of deliveries dwindled to 97.6 billion pieces last year.
The drop in first class mail deliveries has prompted the USPS to review each of their distribution facilities and, where necessary, combine facilities. The review recently included the local distribution center, which employs 137 people in its delivery and mail processing center. Roughly half of the employees work in the processing side of the plant.
The recently completed Area Mail Processing (AMP) study of the Zanesville outgoing processing center reveals that combining it with another facility would not improve mail delivery efficiency, so the McIntire Avenue site will remain intact.
“Zanesville is one of those offices that are dual-tasked,” said Victor Dubina, communications program specialist with the U.S. Postal Service. “The Zanesville Post Office facility serves the 437, 438 (and out-processes half of the 457) zip codes. It serves 70 offices and stations.”
Gary Haenisch, postmaster of the Zanesville facility, said he and the employees at the facility are pleased with the study’s findings.
“I think we do have a very efficient processing facility,” Haenisch said. “We are the only center in the Columbus district that processes outgoing mail besides the Columbus site itself.”
That area includes Zanesville, Coshocton, Adamsville, Cambridge, West Lafayette, Warsaw, Walhonding, Port Washington, Plainfield, Newcomerstown, New Concord, Kimbolton, Keene, Guernsey and Fresno.
Dubina said even if the distribution site would have been combined with another facility, customers would not have seen a difference in the way their mail was delivered. What it means for employees is that no postal jobs will be lost at this time.
“That’s good news,” said Coshocton resident Rosa Sowers.
She said there hasn’t been any trouble with mail delivery at her home.
Zanesville resident Beverly Sowers agreed.
“(Delivery) is fine,” Sowers said. “I just wish it would get here earlier.”
Sowers was glad to hear that no postal worker jobs would be lost in the Zanesville area because of the study.
The study looked at only the processing of single-piece first-class stamped mail. It looked at the center’s volume of that type of mail, the number of cancelations and the levels of sorting that goes on at the facility. There has been a 22 percent drop in single-pieces first-class stamped mail since 1998, according to Dubina.
The office serves as a sorting and distribution site and it also serves as a mailing center from where local carriers are based.
