Tag: USA

Chicago overnight mail delivery is being rated the worst in the nation.
An audit by the Postal Service shows that first-class mail sent between Chicago ZIP codes only made it to the correct address the next day 91 percent of the time between June and September of last year.
U.S. Postal Service District Chicago spokesman Mark Reynolds is responding favorably, despite the negative report.
Reynolds says all the publicity is giving the Postal Service a chance to tell Chicago residents what it is doing to improve the situation.
Reynolds says the USPS’ Chicago district is already implementing plans, including the following: it has hired carriers to fill some of the vacant mail routes.
Reynolds says it’s also looking at its equipment, including the automated mail sorters, which have been known to put the wrong routing code on letters.
Reynolds is advising the public to do what it can to help speed-up the system. Reynolds says apartment dwellers should be sure to put their names on their mailboxes. Also, when addressing letters, everyone should include the entire address, including zip codes and apartment numbers.
Chicago postmaster Gloria Tyson says she’s ordering a review and overhaul of the entire mail delivery system.

Urban America will no longer be the exclusive enclave of letter carriers employed by the U.S. Postal Service.
Looking to cut costs nationwide, the Postal Service will now award contracts to nonpostal employees for deliveries in large new housing tracts, usually located on the fringes of cities.
These independent contractors don’t get benefits. They drive their own cars. The only sign that they are associated with the Postal Service may be a badge at their waist or hanging from a lanyard around their neck.
First up for Fresno: Copper River Ranch, where Cynthia Majors last week began delivering to 50 addresses on the city’s northern fringes.
More contractors will soon follow, postal officials say.
It is the same in Clovis, where there are plans to start contract service in the next few months in new parts of the city.
The Postal Service has long used contract workers on rural routes, including those in the Sierra Nevada foothills, and scores of private businesses offer official postal services.
Postal officials say that in a competitive business environment, the move will save the agency money because the private contractors aren’t paid benefits and use their own vehicles, among other savings.
Officials said postal patrons will see no change in service levels. But the union that represents the letter carriers says handing over urban delivery routes that have historically been handled by Postal Service employees will mean a drop in quality.