PO - USPS Letter to Rep Wu - 06 26 2002 R
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS RECEIVED
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UNITEDPIECE' `_STATES_ E®
POSTAL SERVICE 2002
JUL 01
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June 26, 2002 porgand,OR
Honorable David Wu
Member of Congress
620 SW Main Street, Suite 606
Portland, OfR 97205-3024
Dear Congressman Wu:
This is in response to your June 12 letter on behalf of the City of Tigard Assistance to the City
Manager Elizabeth A. Newton, regarding local postal services and mailing addresses.
I appreciate your interest in assisting Ms. Newton and members of the Tigard community and the
opportunity to address the issues raised. There is no fixed minimum population requirement for
establishing an independent post office; however, Portland District officials responsible for postal
operations in the area believe that Tigard residences are already receiving quality service. There
are no plans to convert the Tigard Branch Post Office to associate office status.
Mailing addresses, including the city name and ZIP Code, direct customers' mail to the proper
delivery office serving that address. In some areas, these addresses correspond exactly to local
municipal or community boundaries, but there are many instances throughout the country where
mailing addresses, including the assigned ZIP Code, overlap formal or informal boundaries. In
some cases, such as this one, customers residing in different localities share a five-digit ZIP
Code.
I do want to emphasize that we are sensitive to the fact that some customers might prefer an
alternate mailing address that reflects a specific community name or locally recognized area, but
the number of ZIP Codes is finite. In order to provide Tigard residents with a measure of
community identity, our national address management database has already been modified to
allow the use of Tigard as acceptable city names when associated with ZIP Codes 97223, 97224,
and 97281. All mailers have the option of using Tigard as the mailing address with these ZIP
Codes.
Ms. Newton requested that we enhance bulk business mail service at the Tigard Post Office to
include weekday hours when bulk mail is reviewed and accepted for delivery. As she has pointed
out earlier in her letter, the Tigard Post Office does accept bulk business mail Monday through
Fridays from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The mail is dispatched to the bulk mail acceptance unit at the
main post office in Portland for processing. The only time mail is returned to a customer is when
it is improperly prepared. Normally, business customers are aware of proper mailing requirement
preparation procedures when they apply for discount mailing privileges. It is important to note
that First-Class and Standard Mail discounts are determined by the amount of work sharing that
mailers choose to perform. This generally includes mail addressing and sorting preparation.
Mailers may be eligible for a discount for Standard Mail depending upon where the mail is
entered into the mainstream.
475 L'ENFANT PLAZA SW
WASHINGTON DC 20260-3500
VISITUs@usps.com
Page 2.
Finally, it is common for the last pickup in a community to be between 5-5:30 p.m. At 6:00 p.m.,
the final mail collection at the Tigard Post Office is one of the latest in the area. Mail must be
collected and transported to the mail processing facility early enough to complete acceptance,
cancellation, and sorting procedures and meet dispatch schedules. Local postal managers are
knowledgeable of customer traffic in their facilities, and adjust collection hours to meet community
needs within the limits of budgetary and staffing constraints. Creating a later collection time in
Tigard would benefit very few customers and would not be a practical use of postal resources.
I hope this information is helpful. If I can be of assistance with other postal issues, please let me
know.
Sincerely,
G�-��/x
Jennifer L. Alvarez
Government Relations Representative