Postal: Lessons Learned from a Visit to the Nation’s Largest Post Office

Last Wednesday, from the time I hopped a train from our Philadelphia headquarters to Manhattan until my return trip home at the end of the day, I had something of a revelation as to how the U.S. Postal Service does its job. I took part in a behind-the-scenes tour of the Morgan Processing & Distribution Center in midtown Manhattan, sponsored by the Direct Marketing Club of New York.

Along with thirty-some people (mostly bulk mailers), my eyes were pried wide open on what it takes to process our mail on a daily basis, not to mention, the complex process involved in bulk-mailed catalogs. I feel confident that when I mail something, it’s going to go to where it’s intended to go.

If I was going to learn the mail delivery process, there was no better place for me to be than at the Morgan plant — the largest postal facility in the country and one of the largest in the world. Completed in 1933, the facility was named after Edward Morgan, the postmaster of New York from 1907 to 1917. Today, the facility processes more than 12.5 million pieces of mail a day, including more than 3.4 million outgoing first-handled pieces and nearly 2.6 million first-handled incoming pieces. To make this all possible, this facility alone employs approximately 4,300 workers.

As with anywhere else, technology has played a major role in the evolution of the Morgan facility. Historically, thousands of workers lugged heavy sacks of mail to be manually sorted according to delivery zone. Today, nearly 100 pieces of equipment are in constant use to help expedite the process of sorting the mail and preparing it for delivery. Approximately six miles of fixed mechanized tray lines help to automate this process.

Before we went on a walking tour of the facility, Elaine Robinson, a mail design analyst who’s been with the USPS for more than 20 years, gave a presentation about many of the Postal Service’s strict guidelines. And as she pointed out, following the strict regulations affecting envelope dimensions, address orientations, barcode clearances and readability, and print contrasts to name a few, is essential to creating a successful mail drop.

If anything is not up to USPS standards, the entire campaign can be compromised. Needless to say, you must make everything machinable to receive cheaper automation rates. If your pieces aren’t machinable, you’ll be forced to pay a 17-cent surcharge for each non-machinable piece. This also delays distribution time, further driving up costs. Robinson strongly advised bringing samples to your local distribution center to test them under the USPS’s regulations. This can help you save money in the long run.

We also got a nice overview of how the Postal Service uses those barcodes on all your catalogs. It’s no secret that those represent ZIP codes, ZIP+4 codes and delivery addresses. Robinson emphasized the importance of barcoding your mail prior to entering the USPS facility. This not only saves the Postal Service processing time, but it qualifies your mail for discounted automation rates contingent upon all other regulations being met.

Once the tour began, the first thing to catch my eye was the speed with which these machines move the mail. I kept thinking to myself how easy it would be to lose a piece. What if that lost envelope was important to the recipient, such as an electric bill, wedding invitation, credit card payment, etc.? Although that inevitably does happen, it happens a lot less than you would expect after seeing the mail being whisked around the facility.

I also was taken a back by the noise of the operation. With so many machines operating at once, it was very difficult to hear even a simple conversation between two people. And our tour came during the relatively slow part of the USPS’s work day — mid-afternoon. We were told the level of noise would increase significantly later in the day and overnight, the busiest time of the day at the Morgan plant. That’s when the majority of the mail would flow through Morgan, as letter carriers and local post offices dropped off their day’s mail to be processed.

Another aspect of the tour that blew my mind was the level of scrutiny the mail is under. The tray lines are monitored constantly by video cameras, which ensure there are no jam-ups or breaks in the flow of the mail. If there’s a problem, a color-coded system is in place to alert operators of a jam-up so it can be quickly fixed.

Mechanics are also constantly on duty, able to fix a machine right away in case of mechanical error. The USPS exists in a time-sensitive environment; it doesn’t have the time to wait for someone to be called in to fix a machine. It needs to be done right away. People want their mail on time. Catalogers need their books in homes on time. No second chances.

By the end of the tour, I felt a little overwhelmed. The constant flow of mail can be a daunting task. Having seen the work of the USPS firsthand, I’ve gained a great deal of respect for its work and a much better understanding of catalogers’ No. 1 cost center.