d UNITED STIJ.TES POSTIJL SERVICE

November 13, 2017

MANAGERS, OPERATIONS SUPPORT (AREA)

SUBJECT:  Operations Policy for the Thanksgiving Day Holiday, Thursday, November 23, 2017

This memorandum provides general operating policy and holiday planning guidance for the upcoming 2017 Thanksgiving Day Holiday. Service levels for this holiday are displayed in Exhibit
of the Postal Operations Manual (POM).

Deli very Operations

All offices should carefully review their staffing plans for this holiday and make adjustments as necessary to meet the needs of their communities .  For planning purposes, Post Offices should use recent mail volumes, and adjust for local circumstances.

Make arrangements for dispatch of packages received through lobby deposit points, including Self Service Kiosks (SSKs).

Wednesday, November 22:  Normal (Wednesday) service levels will be provided in delivery and collection operations . All delivery units should take action prior to this date to assure that units are in a current status. Post-holiday scheduling should be reviewed to ensure delivery operations is prepared for peak holiday parcel volumes following Thanksgiving including but not limited to:
Review scheduling of static AM and PM parcel runs as needed
Delivery territory is properly configured in POAT
Supervisors have access, are trained and prepared to run dynamic/static software programs
Newly hired CCA's understand proper scanning procedures
Delivery Unit is prepared for holiday transportation including early parcel volumes including drop shipments and other package mailers

Thanksgiving Day Holiday, "Widely Observed," Thursday, November 23:   There will be no regular delivery service except for Holiday Premium/Priority Mail Express. There will be Amazon Thanksgiving Drops to 7200+ DDU's. This will be between 4:00 - 8:00 am. These are drop sites only.  Delivery is at the District and Area discretion. There will be no Night Owl drops Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

Friday, November 24:   Delivery  managers and supervisors  should plan for additional mail volume and packages for delivery after the holiday. Supervisors must monitor PVS/HCR/Drop Shipment arrival times and clerk productivities to ensure timely completion of distribution operations. Static Routing must be in place for AM/PM parcel runs where volume necessitates and routes must be ready upon carrier arrival to eliminate costly waiting time. Supervisors must review carrier loading for efficiencies and provide guidance for craft personnel as needed. Area and District LOG Operations should be staffed to cover your expected hours of delivery and be utilized to assist managers with performance and communication.

Retail Operations

Post Offices should use recent retail sales trend information and mail volumes, and adjust for local circumstances.

Please ensure that Self Service Kiosks (SSKs) are fully stocked and that mailing supplies (boxes, Priority Mail labels, etc.) are available for customers.  Make arrangements for dispatch of packages received through lobby deposit points, including SSKs.  Facilities with staffing on this holiday should accommodate  requests for drop shipment appointments.

Offices should ensure that the current holiday closing "door cling" signage is properly displayed. Offices with glass doors should center the door cling inside the main customer entrance door at eye level. Offices with wooden doors should affix the door cling on the exterior. Additional door cling signage can be ordered by contacting the Point of Purchase Hotline at 1-800-332-0317.

Many Contract Postal Units (CPUs) may be open on the holiday.   Post Offices should, therefore , advise customers (to the extent possible) of the locations and hours of operation for CPUs, and where retail services will be available.

Wednesday, November 22:  Normal (Wednesday) service levels will be provided in retail operations.

Thanksgiving Day Holiday, "Widely Observed," Thursday, November 23: No retail service will be available, except from those facilities normally open on this holiday.

Friday, November 24:  Return to normal service levels.  Retail managers and supervisors should use recent sales trend information and adjust for local circumstances .

Processing Operations

This Thanksgiving holiday presents an opportunity to consolidate and compress plant operations to generate savings while maintaining service performance levels. In order to take advantage of the savings opportunity, please adhere to the following guidelines:

Thursday Only: Combine First Class and Priority
Friday: BACK TO NORMAL - Do Not Mix First Class with Priority
Use the variance tools and the Run Plan Generator (RPG) for staffing operations.
Plan holiday volume schedules incorporating load leveling service standards .
Advance as much Yellow standard mail for Wednesday delivery as possible.
District and Field Operations must do mailer outreach to accept FCM Commercial volume on Thursday and advance/process this volume on Thursday .
Sites cancelling on Thursday will be determined locally I by Area as well as decisions for Friday early collection plans.
Inhibit Delivery Point Sequence (DPS) sort program regeneration prior to the holiday and re-establish afterwards.
Recommend processing First Pass (918) on Wednesday  afternoon/evening .  Finalization will be Thursday prior to Second Pass (919).
Ensure only one DPS run on Friday morning (no double runs of DPS on Friday).
Utilize an RPG model for DPS processing on Thursday night and Friday that ensures an early DPS dispatch on Friday morning.
Any late arriving committed volumes received must be processed and dispatched.

Processing and Dispatch of Commercial Mailings

It is extremely important that we develop plans to maximize our window of opportunity to process and dispatch Commercial Mailings on Thursday night and Friday morning. Plans should ensure
that instances of rollover volumes and deviations from planned surface and air transportation on Friday night and Saturday morning do not occur.
Communicate to major mailers, the opportunity to advance mail earlier in the week prior to the holiday.
Specific planning activities should include:

Coordination with Business Mail Entry Unit (BMEU) Managers.
Coordination with Detached Mail Units.
Coordination with Business Service Network Managers.
Notifying Commercial Mailers of BMEU holiday hours and assurance that mail which is entered will be processed and dispatched.
Adjusting Operating Plans and RPGs to include the anticipated Commercial Mail volumes.
Ensuring that all processed mail is dispatched on scheduled transportation on Thursday night and Friday morning.

Resultant changes to existing operational hours that impact our customers must be communicated through the Business Service Network and other customer liaisons.  This includes changes in Facility Access Shipment Tracking System.  Changes to caller service operating windows that affect remittance mail availability must also be shared with our customers.

Plant managers must commit that Parcel Return Service (PRS-569xx) operations will be staffed and all returns sorted and available to PRS partners as agreed.

Plant managers must ensure that Integrated Operating Plans (IOPs) between the BMEUs and Operations are updated to ensure timely induction, processing and dispatch of mail presented to the BMEU prior to and on holidays.  BMEU managers must ensure that all staff at both the BMEUs and the Detached Mail Units are familiar with and execute their operations in accordance with the IOP.  Local collection and cancellation plans must be coordinated with associate offices and must support achievement of 24-hour clock indicators.   Managers and supervisors must plan for anticipated increased volumes after the holiday.  It is vital to ensure all mail is finalized, prepared for assignment, and dispatched on the appropriate transportation  network.

Plants must make plans to assure that destinating two and three-day volumes are processed to meet service goals before and after the holiday.  All missorted, missent, return-to-sender and Postal Automated Redirection System volumes must be identified, finalized, prepared for assignment and dispatched on the appropriate transportation network on Wednesday.   The
24-hour clock indicators for the Managed Mail Program on hand will be useful in monitoring the success of this plan.

Reductions in FAST holiday constraints or facility closures will not be approved; every site must maintain appointment availability. Plants need to ensure timely acceptance of drop shipments. Please ensure that the local FAST facility coordinator contact number information is current. The FAST Help Desk will be authorized to contact local Plant Managers directly to resolve urgent acceptance issues.

Network Distribution Centers (NDCs) also have an opportunity to consolidate and compress operations to generate savings while maintaining service performance levels.  NDCs must utilize the RPG tool to staff operations.  Tier 2 NDCs must ensure that all outgoing volume from Wednesday retail receipts are finalized and dispatched on the appropriate network transportation on the following day.

All NDCs must ensure destinating parcel volume received between 16:00 Wednesday and 16:00 Thursday is available for delivery Friday morning. NDCs must schedule drop shipment acceptance hours to ensure timely induction, processing and dispatch of mail.

If there is a need to deviate from this guidance, please work through the appropriate office for an exception.

Logistics Operations
Air Transportation Network

	
	WNl	olll -			
				UPDATED: 8/f0/17	
						
FedEx Holidays Highlighted					
Holidav	Dav of Week	Date	Dav (x11	Nlnht fx671	Comments	
Day before	Wednesday	11/22/2017	YES	YES	Night turn aircraft will return to destination on Friday mornina	
Thanksolvinn Dav Dav after	Thursday Fridav	11/23/2017 _..,,
11/24/2017	YES	
YES	

FedEx will operate a normal schedule on Wednesday, November 22, 2017. There will be no FedEx operations on Thursday, November 23, 2017.  FedEx will return to a normal schedule on Friday, November 24, 2017 .

... ..

2017 FedEx Network Hollda Oerations

·-	No Day/Night Turn on Thanksaiving Day

CAIR: Normal operations during this period. The canine screening operation schedule for the holiday period will be issued via e-mail to each Area Manager, Distribution Networks.

UPS will operate on a special operating plan on Wednesday,  November 22, 2017 .  There will be no UPS operation on Thursday,  November 23, 2017 and Friday, November 24, 2017.

UPS Holida s Hi

Postal

UPDATED: 61912017

Holiday	Tender Day	Date	Volume
Tendered

Day before	Wednesday	11/22/2017
Than	ivin   Da	Thursday	11/23/2017
Day after	Friday	11/24/2017

Comments

Special Operating Plan all mail due back same day No Mail Tender on Thanksgiving Day
No Mail Tender the day after Thankgiving

Surface Transportation Network

The Surface Transfer Centers will operate on a holiday schedule as shown on the Network Operations "Surface Operations" website at:
http://blue .usps .gov/network    operations/st cs.htm

Dispatch Procedures

To avoid transportation delays, manage mail volume flow before, during, and after the holiday accordingly:

Maximize utilization of available surface, commercial air, and FedEx transportation  during the holiday period.  Dispatch all mail volume inducted on Sunday and Monday nights into the network on Tuesday to avoid overflow on Wednesday's  network.
Prioritization values established for planned routes will ensure commercial air capacity is utilized ahead of FedEx.

Please disseminate these policies and procedures to the appropriate personnel in your area. Your immediate attention to these details and dispatch procedures is app1a  d. Thank you for your assistance.	/_p

on	L(tM	dams
Vice President	Vice President
Network Operations	Delivery Operations
K	g!
Vice President
Retail and Customer Service Operations

cc:  Ms. Brennan Mr. Williams
Vice Presidents, Area Operations
Managers, Delivery Programs Support (Area) Managers, In-Plant Support (Area)
Manager, Business Service Network