WASHINGTON — It used to be that a letter sent was a letter delivered.þþNot so much anymore. Even before the Postal Service begins closing hundreds of processing centers to cut costs, several businesses say they are beginning to see a decline in service.þþDozens of local newspapers say papers are being delivered late or not at all, causing them to lose advertisers and subscribers.þþIn Wisconsin, Publisher’s Diversified Mail Service, a direct marketing firm that sends out 50 million to 75 million pieces of mail a year, said there had been delays in getting promotions delivered on time.þþIn Ohio, Novex Systems, which sends out thousands of utility bills and fund-raising letters for nonprofit groups, said it lost a major client after bills arrived three weeks after they were mailed.þþLast year, Time Inc. complained to the postal authorities after subscribers reported significant delays in getting their copies of Sports Illustrated, People and Time.þþ“The problems only seem to be getting worse,” said Max Heath, a consultant for the Publishing Group of America, whose magazines are distributed through small newspapers. “And the odds of it getting better is almost zero when you consider the changes the Postal Service is about to make, closing plants and lowering its delivery standards.”þþThe post office says several factors have led to what it calls minor delivery delays: the breakdown of older sorting machines, and more time-consuming maintenance; the elimination or consolidation of delivery routes because of declining mail volume; and workers learning how to operate new equipment like a complicated machine the size of a football field that is built by Northrop Grumman to sort catalogs and magazines.þþSeveral larger mailers, including Time, said they had talked with the Postal Service about the machine’s problems, which have resulted in late deliveries. In May, Northrop Grumman sued the Postal Service, accusing it of breaching an $874 million contract by improperly delaying and disrupting the company’s work to install 100 of the machines.þþPostal officials will not comment on the suit, but they said they had not heard a significant number of complaints from large mailers. And when they have received complaints, they said, they have responded quickly.þþ“We have a pretty good relationship with them and would have heard about significant problems and work with them to solve it,” said Marty Bender, who manages processing and distribution at the Postal Service. Executives at Time confirm that they have seen a steady improvement in magazine deliveries over the last two quarters, after problems were reported last year.þþMr. Bender said the agency had recently begun using a system for mailers to track how often standard mail arrives on time. “In the first two quarters of 2012, mail delivery nationally for standard mail has been on time 93 percent of the time,” he said.þþBut the Postal Regulatory Commission, which oversees the agency, said the post office had no idea how often mail arrived on time or was delayed.þþ“Not enough mailers are participating in the system, so any numbers they have about the timeliness of deliveries for standard mail are not an accurate reflection of what’s going on,” said Ruth Y. Goldway, chairwoman of the commission. Ms. Goldway said the Postal Service had been slow in putting its new system in effect.þþ“So it means that we don’t know if the service has declined or if they simply aren’t collecting the information that will show us,” she said. “Either way, it’s a concern.”þþA decline in mail volume, particularly first-class mail, which accounts for the bulk of revenue, has produced steady losses for the Postal Service — an average of $1 billion a month in the first half of the fiscal year — and forced it to propose closing about half its processing centers and cutting hundreds of thousands of jobs. Shuttering the processing centers is expected to save about $2.1 billion a year.þþThe cutbacks have prompted concerns about delivery delays as mail travels farther for sorting and the remaining processing centers take on heavier workloads with fewer workers. Many small businesses say they have already experienced delays.þþþKathy Nelson, the publisher of The Timber Lake Topic, a newspaper in Timber Lake, S.D., a town of about 440 people, said delivery problems for her newspaper began late last year when a mail processing plant closed in nearby Mobridge. The effects were almost immediate, she said. Papers arrived late or not at all. In some cases the current issue arrived on the same day as the previous week’s paper.þþ“It’s hard to keep advertisers when your newspaper arrives late or it’s old news by the time it gets to the subscribers,” Ms. Nelson said. “Across the board, we are seeing service deteriorate.”þþCompanies say the problems with mail delays are not restricted to areas where processing centers have closed.þþLeanne Herman, the general manager for postal operations at Publisher’s Diversified Mail Service in Milwaukee, said the company had experienced delays in mail it sent on behalf of clients, which include colleges, the Y.M.C.A. and health care companies. A nearby processing center is scheduled to be closed as part of the Postal Service’s consolidation plans.þþMs. Herman said that in a number of cases mail delays had meant that promotions for a sale or an event arrived after it was over.þþ“It’s only going to get worse,” Ms. Herman said. “And my fear is that it could cost us business.”þþOfficials at Novex, which is based in Valley View, Ohio, near Cleveland, said problems with slow mail delivery had cost them customers.þþMichael Wheeler, Novex’s vice president, said a utility company that had been a client for more than 25 years recently pulled its account because of late deliveries.þþIn March, Novex had sent out water and sewer bills for the utility through first-class mail to customers in Nevada. The company expected the bills to arrive within a few days. But because of problems at a Reno, Nev., processing center, it was as long as three weeks before the bills were delivered.þþ“Our client decided to go with a company closer to their delivery areas to make sure the mail got delivered on time,” he said.þþMr. Wheeler said his company’s problems with mail deliveries were not limited to first-class mail.þþ“We try to mail 10 to 14 days prior to the dates on the mailings, and this still doesn’t seem to be enough time, “ he said.þþThe Courier Express and Postal Observer, a mailing trade publication in Silver Spring, Md., said the poor service might be causing the Postal Service to lose customers. Using post office data, the publication found that standard mail volume had declined for the first six months of this year. Some of the decline can be attributed to the increased use of online advertising and the use of social media to reach out to customers, the online magazine said, but poor service also seems to be a factor.þþ“The poor quality of service clearly makes it tougher for printers, mailing houses and advertising agencies to sell direct mail when they can’t tell their clients exactly when the Postal Service will deliver,” wrote Alan Robinson, The Observer’s editor.þ
Source: NY Times
