Parcel Select Standup Talk for Back-Office Employees

[Please read this stand-up talk to all back-office employees and then post copies on employee bulletin boards.]

Parcel Select destination-entry services provide an eco­nomical ground delivery service for large- and medium-sized package mailers. It is a work-shared product that is sorted and transported by a shipper or shipping consolida­tor and then delivered by the Postal Service, leveraging the delivery capabilities of the Postal Service.

Parcel Select destination-entry packages are trans­ported by the mail owner or by a third party, in lieu of postal transportation, and tendered to the Postal Service at a des­tination bulk mail center (DBMC), destination sectional cen­ter facility (DSCF), or destination delivery unit (DDU) for delivery. This work-sharing results in cost savings to the shipper in the form of much lower postage, making the product very competitive in today’s package market. In addition, Parcel Select reduces time in transit as well as increases visibility with free Delivery Confirmation service.

Parcel Select can be drop shipped by the merchant; by a parcel integrator such as DHL, FedEx, or UPS; by a regional consolidator such as Blue Package, Cornerstone, American Parcel Solution, Parcel Pool, SPExpress, Puerto Rico DDU Plus, etc.; or by a local carrier contracted by one of the above.

There are two types of Parcel Select verification:

• The first is plant-verified drop shipments (PVDS), which are drop shipments of Parcel Select that must arrive with a PS Form 8125, Plant-Verified Drop Ship­ment (PVDS) Verification and Clearance.
• The second type is Electronic Verification System (eVS) shipments, which are parcels that arrive with­out a PS Form 8125 but that must have a unique eVS barcode applied to each parcel with the text “eVS” in the identifier above the barcode (see attached sam­ple label).

At a DDU, back-office personnel are the first to come in contact with a DDU mailing and must perform a couple of reviews — which are largely the same for both eVS and PVDS — to determine shipment accuracy and quality:

• The first of these reviews is a cursory review of every Parcel Select mailing. The cursory review is a quick check that assures the mailing is at the right facility, that the mailing has not become damaged in shipment, and, if the mailing is PVDS, that PS Form 8125 has been completed properly.
• The second review is a quality review for eVS and PVDS shipments. The review consists of scanning a minimum of five parcels with a “DC/eVS Arrive” scan for every shipment received — also called the “Scan 5” process.

The complete instructions for receiving both eVS and PVDS Parcel Select mailings are available in chapter 6 of Publication 804, Drop Shipment Procedures for Destination Entry, which is available online at www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/pubs/pub804.pdf.

The Postal Service is working to improve internal aware­ness of our Parcel Select product and of our consolidator partnerships across the country. Increased awareness will improve service and grow volume and revenue for this product. We need your help to make Parcel Select service successful. Keeping these simple processes in mind will help us serve our customers better as more of them learn about — and use — this great service.