OSHA's Voluntary Protection Programs:
Partnering with OSHA in worksite safety
excellence
The Boise, ID, Processing and Distribution Center
(PDC) recently celebrated becoming the 20th Postal
Service facility to achieve the highest level in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Voluntary
Protection Programs (VPP) - the VPP Star. Since June
2005 when Boise qualified, another 32 facilities have joined
the VPP, bringing the total to 52 USPS facilities.
Working with industry and labor, OSHA created the VPP
in 1982 to recognize and partner with worksites that implement exemplary systems to manage worker safety and
health.
At the Boise PDC and other VPP sites, employees have
voluntarily agreed to this comprehensive safety and health
process that goes beyond basic compliance with OSHA
standards.
A site choosing to apply for VPP recognition shows its
commitment to effective worker protection by inviting a
team from OSHA into the workplace. OSHA in turn reviews
the effectiveness of safety process improvements. And other worksites benefit from the "best practices" that come out
of the on-site evaluations.
New year, new stamp
"Love: True Blue" stamp issued
 On Jan. 3, the first
business day of the New
Year, the Postal Service
issued its first 2006
stamp.
The nondenominated
First Class Mail Love:
True Blue stamp, designed by Craig Frazier
of Mill Valley, CA, was issued in Washington, DC.
"The Love stamp has become an important part of the
Postal Service's commemorative stamp program," said
Stamp Services Manager David Failor. "Birth announcements, Mother's Day wishes, Valentine's Day cards and
other written expressions of our love need the right stamp
to be complete. The True Blue stamps will certainly extend
expressions of love to family and friends."
The denominated version of the stamp is expected in
March.
Webzines are launching print versions
BusinessWeek reports "it looks as if that magazine pile
in the living room will be around for a while." Web publishers, helped by low costs that go with signing up their online
members, are launching print versions to boost their readership and advertising.
According to researcher InsightExpress, 68 percent of
consumers don't read any magazines online. The article
said the physical presence of paper "brings credibility" and
allows Web publishers to "surround the readers and be
where they are." Advertisers also find print editions attractive because "people are more engaged reading magazines than they are online" and apt to read their ads.
The article said recent Web-to-print ventures include BabyCenter, WebMD the Magazine, AlwaysOn and a magazine devoted to Google.
Cap Metro raises Address Quality score
When Capital Metro asked the Intelligent Mail and Address Quality group for help in improving its ability to "delivery point sequence" mail this summer, it had one of the
lowest Electronic Uncoded Address Resolution System
(eUARS) rates in the nation at 85.14 percent. The eUARS
program allows delivery units to correct records created
when change-of-address orders don't match existing addresses in the Address Management System database.
Correcting those records helps improve address quality
and our ability to delivery point sequence mail.
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An Address Quality specialist visited the Capital Metro
team to point out various key measures that might improve
its resolution rate. By targeting information in the eUARS
reports, Cap Metro was able to resolve more records, and
as a result, closed fiscal year 2005 with a 98.33 percentage
rate - tying Southeast Area for first place!
If your office or district would like to know more about improving eUARS rates, contact the National Customer Support Center at 800-238-3150 or send an e-mail to Ncsc,
Ams Support - Memphis, TN.
Northern Illinois passport fairs bring in
$48,000
At the Deerfield Passport Fair are (from
left) Retail Associate Crystal Turner,
Letter Carrier Tina Harper, Postmaster
Jerry Ross and a customer.
Customers in the
Northern Illinois District
took advantage of passport fairs held at their
local Post Offices. By
providing one-stop payment and document
processing for them, the
district brought in more
than $48,000 in revenue
in less than two months.
The passport fairs
were held at the Evanston, Freeport, Gurnee, Vernon Hills,
Waukegan, Carol Stream and Deerfield Post Offices. With
such a positive response from customers, Deerfield Postmaster Jerry Ross is anticipating more passport fairs in the
future.
Two-thirds of all passport applications are now submitted at Post Offices. Passport fee revenue for USPS in
fiscal year 2005 was $140.7 million, and revenue generated from passport photos was $26.4 million.
When customers need a passport, they turn to a trusted
part of their community - their Post Office. It's the kind of
trust on which we can build.
Passport fairs can be as simple as extending hours on a
Saturday for passport acceptance, community outreach at
schools and colleges with international travel programs or
providing a passport day for businesses whose employees
travel internationally. Want to set up an event? Contact your
district retail specialist.
Premium Forwarding Service: The
enrollment fee remains the same
Curious how to handle Premium Forwarding Service
(PFS) fees after the Jan. 8 price change? It's simple. The
$10 enrollment fee hasn't changed, but the weekly fee
has - it's been raised to $10.40 for anyone who signs up
for PFS on Jan. 8 or later.
Existing PFS customers are not charged an additional
40 cents for weeks they have already pre-paid.
Carrier Pickup reins in 22 million
packages
 New Oxford, PA, Rural Carrier Regina
Smith, left, accepts Carrier Pickup
Online Notification package number 22
million from Horse Tack Company
owner Katrina McClelland
As manager of Horse
Tack Company in New
Oxford, PA, Karen
Nicholson credits the
Postal Service for her
success. "If I had to
send everything by other shippers, I would be
out of business," says
Nicholson.
"Shipping with the
Postal Service is cost
effective and we're not
saddled with surcharges," she added.
"Our customers like and
trust the reliable service." Nicholson believes Carrier Pickup Online Notification has helped her
mail-order business because she has more time in the office to market her products.
"Horse Tack Company ships about 20 packages a day
with us that used to go to the competition," says Officer-in-
Charge Carlos Cruz. "We offer the best service and value
for their light-weight residential and international package
shipping - and with Carrier Pickup, we save them a lot of
hoofing back and forth to the Post Office." |
