1st Ward

Customer Advisory Council

Chicago, IL 60618, 60622, 60647

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Summary of July 10 2007 Post Office CAC Meeting
for 60618, 60622 & 60647 Neighborhoods in Chicago.
Eight members of the 1st Ward post office Customer Advisory Council (CAC) and two staffers from Alderman Manny Flores office met with seven managers from the U.S. Postal Service in the second meeting of the newly formed CAC at the Wicker Park Station post office. The CAC members were from three zip codes (60618, 60622 & 60647) in the 1st Ward. The post office managers included Station Managers for those same three post offices ("stations") and other USPS district managers.

The USPS managers made two presentations to the CAC:

Mystery Shopper / Internal Retail Assessment

New Growth Rules & Regulations

The CAC members were shown how to use an assessment form to help the USPS evaluate the performance of individual retail employees (i.e., the clerks that customers encounter in the post office lobbies) and the overall customer experience in a particular post office. The members will now join the ranks of USPS "mystery shoppers" and send their evaluations to a manager at the Chicago District office.

Examples of items in the evaluation are: time waiting in line; number of stations actually staffed during your wait; employee courtesy, attentiveness and appearance; explanation by the employee of the options available for sending your mail; appearance and maintenance of the post office itself.

The CAC members were also given information about the mail delivery options available for newly constructed homes and apartment buildings. For instance, so-called "door delivery" is no longer an option in new residential areas where centralized, cluster, or sidewalk boxes are now the policy. Developers and builders should be in touch with the USPS before construction to insure compliance. Door delivery continues to be available in new "fill-in" developments and for hardship cases.

The CAC members were asked to advise their local Station Managers when they become aware of new construction so that the USPS can be pro-active in case the builders have not already consulted with the post office.

The USPS managers also asked to be notified of community meetings where they might send a representative to explain what steps customers can take to improve delivery.

Customers were urged to obtain locking mailboxes in situations where the boxes are easily available to strangers. Calling 800-ASK-USPS or the local Station Manager is a way to get a list of approved mailbox vendors.

The USPS managers said that customers should contact the postal inspectors (800-ASK-USPS) in the event of suspected mail theft.

Other discussions with the Station Managers included:

Request for carriers to always insert letters completely into mail slots to reduce theft.
Request for carriers to collect letters left by the customer for pick-up
Management/supervisor non-responsiveness to customer complaints.
Increased anti-vagrancy diligence by supervisors in/near station lobbies/entrances.

USPS managers pledged to reinforce carrier training on delivery issues and asked that customers always take the name of the USPS employee that was their initial point of contact to make non-responsiveness follow-up more effective.

The District managers explained that a customer complaint to the 800-ASK-USPS call center generates a written notice to the appropriate local manager. A local manager or supervisor is required to respond within 48 hours and the original ticket also triggers a notice to district managers for follow-up. Several CAC members disputed that this system actually works as intended if the local manager subverts it.

Each of the three Station Managers stated that they are increasing their own and their employees' awareness of lobby conditions, including removing vagrants and safety issues. They also said that carriers are required to report unsafe or especially difficult delivery situations which might lead to an official request for the customer to take corrective action.

The CAC generally agreed that time-of-day delivery and incorrect address delivery have both improved in the past few months in most neighborhoods.

The CAC decided not to break into three separate councils - one for each of the three zip codes represented - but to continue as a combined body to be known as the 1st Ward Customer Advisory Council which will meet on the second Tuesday of each month.

It was also decided to list the phone numbers and eMails for each of the three USPS Station Managers in this web site for easier customer complaint resolution. Please see the Contact Us page. Future web site additions may include links to other community web sites and, perhaps, a way for individual customer issues to be posted on-line.



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U.S.Postal Service | Chicago's 1st Ward


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