European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Cover Story the mail mystique from the cover changes is a a fiasco that Only hurls those of us trying to get our Bills on a Why did they have to do this during the draw Down a she asked. In defense of the postal system Kinne said that 14 boxes she mailed from Belton Texas to her address in Germany arrived a a quickly and the Post office although just a a Small Side station not the main Post office Quot accepted her a a aet address with no questions. Not the Case in a Wilmington Ohio Post office. Tech. Sgt. Bob Lovelace describes himself As an experimentalist so it was with trepidation that he tried to mail a package from his Hometown Post office in Wilmington to his new zip code at Lindsey air station in Wiesbaden Germany during a trip to the states last october. A i knew the old zip code would work. I just tried it to see what would happen a Lovelace said. Although it was three months after the new zip code alignment program was supposed to begin the computerized equipment declared the new Lindsey zip code invalid. A the clerk entered the old Apo number in the computer to figure the postage and left the new number of the package and it arrived of Quot Lovelace said. In response to disgruntled customers the postal service and military postal service Agency issued a joint statement. We anticipated that problems and frustrations would be encountered and would have to be overcome a the letter states. A but we also believed that the goal of improved mail service was Worth the growing pains associated with these changes. A we Are extremely concerned about the hardships these problems May have caused for both our Dod family overseas and those with whom they correspond both uses and Mesa have taken aggressive Steps both to broadly re publicize the program throughout the corporate and postal communities and to follow up and resolve specific the bulk of customer Wrath has fallen on the Navy army and air Force mail officials on this Side of the Ocean. They were first to hear complaints about mailers who change from a three line address format and mailers who did no to recognize the a a and a now used for locations outside the United states. Changes reached major and not so najor mailers at a snails Pace and Post offices across the United states continued to refuse mail with the new zip codes. Postal customers have reported agencies in the states interpreting a a aet As such places As Quot american embassy and a Arab emirates Quot said Yvonne Radloff of the 7025th postal so at Ramstein a Germany. And nearly everyone stationed in Europe has seen Quot Apo nyae Quot or a Apo a top mail officials in Europe Send every Patron complaint to Mesa which is the Liaison Between the military mail system and the . Postal system. Complaints have declined since the system started last july and Mesa officials say about 55 percent of All letter mail surveys recently at one . Gateway Airport were addressed with the new format. A i m seeing More complaints in the newspaper than i receive at my office Quot said Barbara Lutz of the army postal group Europe in rheingau Germany. Quot things really seem to be settling Down a Many organizations aware of the changes but unable to Institute them yet such As american express and the Pentagon Federal credit Union have sent letters to their customers assuring them that address changes will be made As soon As their mailing software is upgraded. In the Mediterranean Region the change of All Shore zip codes caused a Chain of confusion said senior chief Petty officer George Piette of the Mediterranean mail coordinator office in Naples Italy. A in the beginning there seemed to be some reluctance to make the change Quot he said and it was obvious that word of the new zip codes Hadnot spread very far. A we would see a lot of letters with the Cor incl new zip code crossed out and the old zip code written on the envelope a Piette said. A someone a amps Jim de Helm pfc. Travis Cole checks mail in the sorting room of the Apo facility in Offenbach Germany. Somewhere along the line changed but postal officials in Europe also insist that mail delays in nearly All instances occur before the mail arrives on the continent. A everything within our control is running Fine a said it. Col Robert Demmel commander of Ramstein a 7025th. The 7025th operates Aerial mail terminals in Europe that receive mail directly from the air planes that bring mail from the states. A we process a half million pieces of mail a Day a Demmel said. A there Are a lot of satisfied customers. Its just that you hear More about the unsatisfied what about those occasional letters that take six weeks to get from Detroit to Giessen Germany or the priority class package that arrives in London two months after being mailed from new York City sometimes there just Isnit an acceptable explanation for confused and angry overseas mail patrons said Lutz. A there is so much hands on processing of the mail that there Are a lot of places where mail can get delayed before it leaves the states a she said. Imagine this scenario aunt Bea drops a letter in the Mailbox at the end of her Street in Hometown Usa. When the postman empties the Mailbox he misses the letter because it is stuck in a Crevice in the Back of the Box. A Day or two later he retrieves the letter and takes it to the area Post office. From there it goes to the main Post office where it is routed to one of four Gateway airports Dulles in Washington of Hare in Chicago Juk in new York or Dow in Dallas. Along the Way the mail is handled or sorted several times a imagine people manually pitching letters into bins or bags. What if a letter misses a bag and slides under a table and remains unnoticed for Days so the letter finally makes it in a mailbag bound for the cargo hold of a 747 destined for Frankfurt. What else could happen Ever been fogged in at the Boston Airport How about trapped in sunny Houston because there was a snowstorm in Chicago the same thing happens to your mail. Sometimes problems can be revealed by the markings on a letter. Ever notice an e6 stamped on the Back of your letter or maybe a b3, b7, k4 or k5? your letter acquires these coloured Stamps by passing through automated equipment at processing centers. If a letter has plenty of those Stamps you can bet it passed through several mail processing centers before leaving the states. Sometimes there is no stamp. In the Case of Alison Nelly a sat admission ticket there were no markings on the envelope and a the envelope did no to even look like it had been handled a her Mother said. Will problems like these be solved by automated sorting equipment that the postal service plans to install in coming years a automated equipment does no to make As Many mistakes As humans a said Lutz. A but not All mail can be sorted by that oversized envelopes and parcels will still be sorted by hand and there will still be room for mishandling she said. Which brings us Back to the a address standardization and zip code realignment Drill overseas mailers have been having fits with since july. What a it All about the new four line address and changed zip codes Are actually two separate initiatives that were implemented by the . Postal service at the same time. The changes were never intended to Speed mail immediately As some commercials or publicity announcements claim say overseas postal officials. The four line address format change is necessary for the eventual use of automated mail sorting equipment. These High tech gizmos actually capable of Reading handwriting will electronically decipher the last two lines of address for Quick sorting. The zip code number changes Are intended to keep mis routed mail closer to the place it should have been originally routed. The . Postal service took a Hodgepodge of zip codes and reorganized them so that All zips in Germany begin with 090, 091 or 092 the United kingdom begin with 094 ships with 095 Italy and Spain with 096 anyplace else in Europe with 097 and the Middle East and Africa begin with 098, in most cases mail is in a patrons Box or at the unit mail room about 24 hours after arriving at the Aerial mail terminal Demmel said. Navy army and air Force mail facilities adhere to a policy of a in and out the same in Germany for example mail arrives via .-tlagged commercial carriers at the Frankfurt Airport. Continued on Page j a amps Jim Der icim sgt. Bobby Gaston a we keep it 4 a sunday March 22, 1992
