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| Wilson Gets Postal Update Officials: Sorters Improving Delivery |
March 19, 2007 |
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Saturday, March 17, 2007
Wilson Gets Postal Update Officials: Sorters Improving Delivery
By Andrea Schoellkopf
Journal Staff Writer
Postal officials say upgraded service and machinery will mean an end to after-dark delivery for West-Siders, an ongoing problem for patrons until just recently.
On Friday, top Albuquerque-area postal officials told Rep. Heather Wilson the upgraded services also mean another West-Side station won`t be needed for several years.
Top Albuquerque-area officials met with Wilson, a Republican, at the Pino Station in Paradise Hills to address her concerns about the postal service, which is not a part of the federal government.
She said the complaints to her office— among them deliveries to homes after-dark— peaked about this time last year and have improved recently.
"Our complaints, as of this month, have really dropped off," Wilson said. "... People in the community are really happy about it."
In the past year, there has been new leadership at the post office, including the district manager, plant manager and postmaster, who helped fix many of the problems Albuquerque had been experiencing, said Paul Basile, congressional advocate for the U.S. Postal Service.
Until two weeks ago, all the sorting for the upper West Side was done at the Pino Station.
Within the past month, the West Side post office moved its sorting to the main plant on Broadway NE, which had added three high-speed sorters that scan bar codes, to aid in its statewide delivery.
The Pino station— which still employs 130 people even after the switch to the main plant— was among four in Albuquerque that had continued to sort on-site, Basile said, adding that all the sorting for the state is done Downtown.
Previously, it took the six machines at the Pino station about 24 hours to sort through the West Side mail. Now it only takes about seven hours at the main plant, said Andy Letterhos, manager for operations programs support for the Albuquerque district.
As Wilson left the building at about 1 p.m. Friday, officials noted several carriers returning from their routes for the day.
Before the sorting switch, 30 percent of the carriers citywide were returning before 5 p.m., Basile said. Now, nearly all of the carriers are making that cutoff time.
Last week, the president of the West Side Coalition of Neighborhood Associations said the group would be focusing its efforts on increased postal service to the West Side.
But Friday, postal officials said a new station doesn`t appear to be on the horizon: The increased room in the Pino Station now means the station can withstand West-Side growth for another 10,000 to 15,000 delivery addresses, or 10 to 12 years, before it starts thinking about another full-service location.
A gas station retail unit opened at Universe and Paradise in October, selling stamps and taking care of shipping, and Basile said it has freed up the Pino Station. The post office has plans for another two contract units on the West Side, including one on Irving.
Coalition president Dan Serrano, who also toured the facility before a separate lunch meeting with Wilson, said while the service has improved since the switch to the Downtown sorters, West-Siders need a more centrally located station to do postal business.
"I think there`s a lot more to a post office than what these little contract postal units can provide," Serrano said.
While the retail units can sell stamps and mail packages, Serrano said what`s also needed is a place to pick up packages and registered mail and another place for post office boxes and to apply for passports.
He said residents south of Central must use the Five Points Station and those on the north end use Pino, but both locations are difficult to access for residents of the middle West Side.
"Regardless of where you have to go, you have a long journey and you have a long wait because those places are overburdened," Serrano said.
The Pino Station serves about 70 routes from the Sandoval County line to Interstate 40 with about 45,000 deliveries to households and businesses, said Jose Negron, customer service manager for the Pino Station.
Separately, Albuquerque school board member Robert Lucero filed a complaint against the Pino Station last month when his campaign material did not arrive in homes until the week after the Feb. 6 election, which he won with 58 percent of the vote.
He is seeking reimbursement of the $4,000 in printing costs and the $628 postage for more than 3,700 glossy postcards sent out to West Side voters.
The matter is now under investigation by the Office of the Inspector General, said Basile, who could not comment on the issue any further. |
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