Use of Industry Best Practices in Processing Parcels

Filed under Mail Processing & Transportation  

While the Postal Service leads the world in processing letter mail, private sector competitors have a higher market share for parcels. And while letter volumes are decreasing, parcel volumes are projected to increase. Although parcels represent less than 2 percent of mail volumes, the Postal Service parcel business makes up 13 percent of the market share in the U.S. The chart on the left depicts the market share for parcels. Just how do parcel industry giants keep their costs down and productivity up, even in today’s economic environment? And, is there anything that the Postal Service can learn from them?

Which changes would most reduce the cost of handling parcels? (select up to two)

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After visiting operations of the two parcel industry giants, the OIG learned that although the Postal Service has many things in common with the industry giants, it could also learn a few things. The benchmarked entities and the Postal Service process parcels both manually and use automation. However, the following best practices came to light:

  • Employees are predominantly part-time, often working four-hour shifts with staggered start times to accommodate volume loads.
  • Employees are moved among tasks quickly to meet the needs of changing volumes, including crossing-crafts between unloading, scanning, processing, and even facility maintenance.
  • Parcels move quickly through the facilities, generally on conveyor belts, and are not staged in transport equipment in waiting areas or moved around between pieces of processing equipment manually.

Which of the best practices listed above do you think would most positively impact the cost of handling parcels in our processing centers if the Postal Service implemented them?

This blog is hosted by the OIG’s Network Optimization directorate.

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Permalink | Comments (17) | Jun 1, 2009

 

 

17 Responses to “Use of Industry Best Practices in Processing Parcels”

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  1. 17
    esperzona Says:
    January 11th, 2010 at 1:14 pm

    A bump on my Christmas card. A little, next-to-nothing bump makes my card non-machinable. It was returned to me a week later, non-machinable, requires 20 additional cents. For a bump. USPS machinery is not capable of dealing with this nearly imperceivable, no thicker than a dime, bump on the card. Did USPS let the general public know this or just let us all stumble into it. Disgusted. I’ll us UPS, no bump problem there.

  2. 16
    old postal guy Says:
    July 15th, 2009 at 10:56 am

    USPS would have many more parcels today if Potter had not killed Expedited & Package Services in 2002. They were on a roll and gaining parcel market share for USPS. What a shame. The BMCs could handle many more parcels today with no increase in labor. The machines are efficient and most of the workers are good. It would more efficient just by virtue of the higher volume.

  3. 15
    jrkakapastate Says:
    June 17th, 2009 at 10:53 am

    If everyone stopped smoking at the post office, the
    company would save million$ of Greenbacks in health
    & welfare alone. Hundreds of thousands of work hours
    could be saved. And in my humble estimate, manager
    performance would be increased by 22%/per day.
    ie. they could help do some work instead of wasting
    time smoking. Sick leave could nearly be eliminated
    saving more ca$h. And my health would be better because
    I wouldn’t have to work extra to make up the time
    they lose on smoke breaks, and my health would
    improve because I won’t be breathing 2nd hand & 3rd hand smoke.

  4. 14
    RuralCarrierWA Says:
    June 11th, 2009 at 7:41 am

    I would like to see that while parcels are being moved around on the way to delivery, that someone, somewhere, is checking to be sure postage is correct on these items. I see postage due items everyday, and its a fight in my office to get the clerks to mark them up, and management wont pay the carrier to weigh and rate, so who is responsible? I agree with the poster above too, about scanning at pick-up, and people want to be able to track their package as it moves through the system.

    Oh! And we should get a definition on who the “customer” actually is. Is it the person that we are delivering to? John Q Public? Or is it the mass mailers and printing houses? Seems there is a real discrepancy when it comes to the use of the term “Customer”

  5. 13
    BMC Clerk Says:
    June 10th, 2009 at 12:24 am

    Having Supervisors that actually know the operation as well as the people they are
    supervising would help. I like the idea of a working supervisor. Never have liked
    the idea they cannot be a part of the operation. I have seen the work ethic decline
    because no one is held accountable. The customer is a distant concept to many

  6. 12
    epistola Says:
    June 5th, 2009 at 11:38 am

    The Postal Regulatory Commission has approved the Summer Sale, so it looks as though it will happen.

  7. 11
    Network Ops host Says:
    June 3rd, 2009 at 10:01 am

    Thank you, Anonymous.

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