European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 19, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Postal goals wednesday october 19, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 9 letter perfect service May be an Ideal unreachable but Apo sets sights High rheingau Germany is most people have a War Story or two to Tell about their dealings with the Apo. Some Are warranted others Aren t. But few real ize just How Complex the army Post office is and How it touches everyone in usar eur. Getting the mail to arid from the states requires a lot of trained people mail handlers Sorters truck Drivers clerks pilots customs inspectors railway workers and administrative personnel. Jeff Burger postal group information officer said the system is fragile. There Are so Many transportation systems involved that if just one part Breaks Down a letter could be delayed at least a said it is the Job of the postal group to supervise and coordinate the whole system whereas regional postal officers Are responsible for getting the mail from the local Apo to the servicing general sup port Center Apo. According to Burger Apos Are divided into two categories direct and general support. Direct support offices receive mail from local postal patrons and Send Iton or conversely receive the mail from Offenbach Germany and deliver it to local mail clerks. A general support Apo has the dual responsibility of taking bulk mail from outly ing units and forwarding it to the Central mail facility at Offenbach or the Frankfurt Aerial mail terminal frat. There it is separated for distribution to the states or within the command. Some 800 military personnel Are assigned to various elements of the postal system in All capacities except Long haul move ment of mail. This aspect of the system is handled by Drivers from the 4th brigade 37th trans group. In 1976 these Drivers moved 226 million pieces of mail of All types in All kinds of weather. Carrying the mail to and from the Central Points within Europe accounted for in excess of 3 million Miles and 118 Mil lion pounds according to a report Given to Congress. Col. De Williams postal group com Mander said i d like for everybody to have their mail within a parameter of four to six Days. Right now 32 per cent of the letter mail arrives in four Days and 52 per cent in six. I firmly believe we re getting the mailand doing an outstanding Job of delivering it. For example this morning Heidelberg received eight bags of letter mail that were worked in new York he admitted that this was exceptional service considering that it had to be flown Over then worked by both army and air Force personnel but he said it s what the postal group would like to see More of. He said that a congressional committee recently investigated numerous com plaints on the Apo system. The former commander Here told congressman Charles h. Wilson a Calif what rethought mail service should be and what it actually is. We also went to work i thumps people and have gotten closer to our goal than we were just six months Williams and Burger both emphasized that the Apo system in t a 9-to-5, 5-Day-a week Job. It s a 24-hour, 7-Day-a-week, 52 weeks a year thing that never stops. Williams said the troops in the postal system Are soldiers just like anyone else. They Soldier on a daily basis fitting in Normal soldierly activities their jobs and training including going to the biggest difficulty is getting them Cross trained to work All phases of the operation. Frankly my people work hard. They re dedicated work exceptionally Long hours get very few Days off and May get one training Holiday a year. Our bus Iest time is the thanksgiving Christmas Holiday people Are getting time off relaxing and enjoying themselves. Our people Are working their hardest then. They also have to go to the Field to sup port the tactical units. They Don t go out As often As some units do. They can t and still do their jobs. Army postal workers at Heidelberg sort incoming mail for redistribution to areas served by the Heidelberg Community. Is Coles but i d match them against any combat support units. They re doing their Job of supporting 375,000 servicemen and dependents and still must be ready to move the mails in a tactical Burger said that while Cross training is an internal problem that does cause some difficulties to the system the biggest prob Lem is educating the postal Patron. Most people think All you have to do is stick a stamp on an envelope drop it and forget it. What they Don t realize is that they be got to have the Correct Apo or zip code and that their writing should be Legi ble if the letter is to get to its destination on added we religiously watch the amount of return mail undeliverable we get because of mishandling and we find that 99 per cent of it in t due to our errors. Another big big headache for us is personnel movements. Many people Don t fill out the change of address card. It s sup posed to be part of the out processing procedure. The individual is responsible for doing it but the local postal clerk is sup posed to see that it gets done. Many times they Don t. Not filling out the card creates a temporary but frustrating problem for the postal letters with improper addresses Are returned to the sender if a return address is on the envelope. If an address or return address can t be determined the letter ends up in the dead letter office there is a controversy going on in the states about saturday mail deliveries. Mail is not delivered on weekends within Usa eur. But what about weekend pickup of mail for movement out i would say generally no said Wil Liams there Are some Apos that do serv ice the mailboxes on weekends but pickup schedules Are clearly posted. Our concern on the weekends is to be sure we get the in coming mail and have it ready for a timely delivery on monday. Of course we have daily and nightly runs during the week sometimes two or three from major centers. We try to get the mail flowing As quickly As we he Yule cards letters gifts Here Are deadlines rheingau Germany is Christ Mas time is the highest volume period for mailings according to Jeff Burger of army postal group Europe. If you want to be sure your gifts to the states arrive when you want them to mail your packages Early. Apo deadlines for All mailing classes Are space available mail Sam dec. 3rd. Parcel Airlift pal dec. 12th. Priority parcels airmail dec. 13th. Letters cards and voice recordings dec. 15th. These Are the latest dates that mailings can go out and still be delivered before Christmas Day. Burger said that in order to avoid Long lines and the final Rush postal patrons should not wait until these deadlines but should mail As Early As Possi ble. Said that once the mail is sorted at frat it is sent out on the next scheduled mail flight mostly via commercial postal operation in Europe inter faces with nearly every Agency and individual to create what Williams called a Complete service to the user. He said not All agencies work from the same Rule Book so real expertise is demanded of Apo personnel. The whole system is enhanced barmy and air Force postal systems cooperating As one to make it work another complaint that seems to crop up fairly often is lost or damaged items. Wil Liams admitted that these things happen but defended the system saying we have detailed regulations on handling Security locks storage of registered and certified mail. We treat these with the same kind of care we give to classified material but the sheer bulk of regular mail makes some damage inevitable. I d be a fool to say one per cent errors or that any percentage is acceptable. Sure we make mistakes but we sure try not to make Williams will make a fact finding trip of his own to the states soon to see How the postal system there works and to learn How to improve mail flow through knowl Edge of the stateside he plans to visit the bulk and foreign mail Center in new Jersey that is the Cen trial mail terminus for inbound and out bound mail in the Eastern . And discuss operations at the military mail terminal at Juk Airport. Later he will visit it. Ben Jamin Harrison ind., to work on improving postal clerk training and on developing adequate skill qualification tests set for postal personnel. The final Stop in the states will be at the adjutant general s postal division offices in Washington result of the trip according to Wil Liams will be increased knowledge of ways to Speed mail movements for the soldiers and dependents in Europe. This knowl Edge he said is not something we plan to Hoard. I la go anywhere any time to Dis cuss the system or to resolve complaints. I would encourage wives clubs units Orother organizations who want to know How their postal system works to let their Apo know and i la make arrangements to meet with them for discussions and presentations on the
