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Five members of the 1st Ward post office Customer Advisory Council (CAC) from two zip codes (60622 & 60647) along with a representative from 1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores office met with five managers from the Chicago District office, two postmasters (60618 & 60622) and three Customer Care representatives (60618, 60622 & 60647) from the U.S. Postal Service in the tenth meeting of the 2007-2008 CAC at the 1st Ward Service Office on Western Avenue in Chicago.
A carrier from 60647 joined the meeting to discuss carrier training and accountability. Due to time constraints that topic will be more completely explored at the next CAC meeting (May 21) and he has agreed to return. Additional USPS guests were the Chicago District Managers of Address Management Systems and of Post Office Operations. Those two managers announced the upcoming split of ZIP Code 60622 into two ZIP Codes: 60622 & 60642 and the assignment of roughly half of ZIP Code 60610 addresses to be added to the little-used 60654 ZIP Code. The changeover is effective July 1 2008 but the post office will continue to honor the old ZIP Codes for one calendar year, until July 1 2009. The reason for the change is that USPS is running out of nine-digit (ZIP+4) codes due to many changes from single family homes to multi-unit buildings. For 60622, all addresses east of N. Ashland Avenue will change to 60642. Addresses on N. Ashland Avenue and west of N. Ashland Avenue will remain 60622. 60622 & 60642 will both continue to be served by the Wicker Park Station, 1635 W. Division Street. 60610 addresses on W. Chicago Avenue and south of W. Chicago Avenue will be assigned to 60654. 60610 & 60654 will both continue to be served from the Fort Dearborn Station. Maps will be on display at both post offices. Approximately 10,000 addresses in each ZIP Code will be affected by the change. Most carrier routes will not be affected for now. Some routes along N. Ashland Avenue will likely be reassigned beginning in September 2008. Customers DO NOT have to fill out a change-of-address form. Most large commercial mailers (such as banks, magazine publishers and utility companies) will automatically make the change. Customers should notify other contacts of their new ZIP Code, such as friends, relatives and other personal correspondents. Customers may continue to use their old stationery and envelopes but are encouraged to make the change whenever they are reprinted. USPS is notifying affected customers by mail beginning in late April 2008. 60647 has been without a regular Station Manager since October 2007. USPS managers had previously announced that a selection had been made and that a permanent manager would be named pending final approvals. That selection was not consumated. Until further notice, Mr. Richard Osborne, newly named Area 2 manager is serving as the third acting postmaster at Clemente Station in the last eight months. Mr. Osborne explained that procedural and organizational changes there have now made the position more desirable and the search is once again being posted within USPS nationwide. 60647 managers have asked for Alderman Flores assistance in obtaining more frequent Chicago Police attention to lobby trespassing and panhandling at the post office. Wicker Park Station (60622) Manager Mr. Carlos Johnson has returned from sick leave and reports that the recent increase in customer complaints there is related to a consolidation of some routes which led to more senior carriers "bidding" for other routes, thereby "bumping" carriers already familar with those routes. He estimated that the resulting ripple effect caused reassignments in 95% of the 60622 routes. Newly assigned, substitute and rookie carriers are the cause of most misdelivered mail and late deliveries. He also explained that Wicker Prk Station is operating with only two of the four supervisors authorized for that location. Mr. Johnson stated that the majority of mis-delivered mail can be traced to carrier inattention during sorting and at the last-moment before delivery when they are supposed to scan the packet before inserting it into the mailbox or delivery slot. Mr. Johnson said that letters have gone out to customers in multi-unit buildings whose mailboxes are not in compliance with USPS regulations. Broken locks on approved boxes can be replaced at no-charge by having building managers call 312-983-7770. Carriers are not supposed to have keys to individual buildings. Admittance to the lobby and to the mailboxes is only supposed to be via the carrier's official "Arrow" key. Many stations remained open until midnight on April 15 to accomodate last-minute IRS filings and the USPS managers report that the process went smoothly. The CAC again noted that Chicago Postmaster Gloria Tyson's order to place suggestion boxes in all lobbies and to make lobby customers aware of how to contact the CAC had not yet been acted upon at 60618, 60622 and 60647. She had also asked that all three locations install lobby bulletin boards. Only 60647 has complied. 60618 is awaiting the completion of lobby renovations. THE Post Office's "Helpful Hints" (or "Do's & Don'ts" self-help list) has been updated to reflect summertime delivery situations. USPS managers announced that the Chicago District has climbed back up to a 95% on-time delivery average but that Gloria Tyson, Chicago District Manager and Postmaster, has set the goal as 98%. The Postal Inspection Service is providing an Inspector for a community presentation on "Mail Theft, Scams & Stolen ID". The free program is at the Wicker Park field house, 1425 N. Damen Avenue (at Schiller) on May 7 at 7PM. The next CAC meeting is scheduled for 5:30PM, Wednesday May 21, 2008 at Roberto Clemente Station, 2339 N. California Avenue, 60647. |
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