European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Troop draw Down  the pressure on mail rooms i n a cramped room in the Back of the Hanau Germany Post office clerks search their files for forwarding addresses. They re trying to match letters that fill the mailbag cluttering the floor. Some of the mail will get new addresses. Others will receive the dreaded a return to sender stamp. Its a scene repeated in every Post office across Europe and a task that has grown with the military draw Down. A i hate to return anybody a mail because i know that if it was mine id want my mail to come to me a said Vonda Mckoy at the Hautau postal locator Section. A and it bothers me that with things like Magazine subscriptions people have paid for something they Are not going to  of the thousands of soldiers who left the Hanau area in the last year Many committed the ultimate postal Faux Pas a they did not Clear their local mail room and submit change of address cards. A i can to say that its anything like 50 percent but there Are a lot of people who Are not Clearing their mail room before they leave a Mckoy said. A a lot of the reason is people just want to hurry and go a she added. Sometimes they will Send a new address card to the Post office after getting to the states and realizing they Are not getting their mail she said. A but they often forget things like their social Security number or family members names Quot she said. A and that still does t help  when a unit draws Down someone must remain behind for 60 Days to redirect mail that arrives for departed individuals said Barbara Lutz from the Headquarters of army postal group Europe in rheingau Germany. After that 60-Day period the chore is passed to the locator Section of the local Post office. During the year she has worked in the Hanau locator Section Mckoy has seen the staff grow from two to six people working two shifts. They redirect five to six bags of mail each Day. A was it stands now we Are servicing More people who have left than people who arc Here a Mckoy said. Crystal Laureano a amps Jim Derti Eim Barbara Lutz departed troops get backup help. A amps Jim Der Liam pfc. Yolanda Colorado docs the super mail shuffle in Hanau a Long zip away from her Florida  Apo delivery posthaste former general say by Rosemary Sawyer Brussels Bureau retired maj. Gen. Randall peat thinks its about time the . Postal services top management wakes up and reads the postmarks. Armed with examples of such mail delivery disasters As the National geographic traveler that travelled to Rabat Morocco and the Maryland Absentee ballot that was still absent a week after primary Day peat is trying to Call attention to the fact that the postal services Apo address standardization and zip code realignment program a . A a has big problems. Peat now a civilian employee at a Field office of the defense nuclear Agency near Mons Belgium Hopes that his status As a former air Force general might draw attention to a letter of complaint he wrote to the . Postmaster general. In his october letter which he also sent to several newspapers and a . Senator Friend peat said he was writing on behalf of . Service members civilian employees and family members at Apo and Fpo addresses All of whom were a being served very  peat received an letter of reply on Jan. 22, dated Jan. 10, from the director of the office of transportation and International services. He said he gave the postal service the Benefit of the doubt Over the letters apparent 12-Day delivery time from Washington because it arrived in a franked envelope and therefore bore no postmark the director James Orlando wrote a we never believed the change would be easy and its implement amps rotatory Soyar retired maj. Gen. Randall peat a they just took on a bigger project than they thought they  tation free of  he then Denuir aerated Steps the postal service has taken to alleviate mail delay problems. Peat said he thought his letter to the postmaster a did what it was designed to do a although he admits he did no to find Orlando a answers particularly satisfying. A a in a sure that the troops at the top were hearing nothing but Good a peat said referring to postal executives. A a in be been in big organizations Long enough to know that unless somebody raises the Issue to their ears they re never going to find out because who Down below wants to admit that they screwed up and somebody obviously  peat said he a also hopeful some Good will comes from the copy of the letter he sent to former neigh Bor sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming. A i got a note at Christmas that said he had turned it Over to one of his Guys who was hammering the postal department to see if there was anything that could be done a peat said. Before peat retired from the air Force in la is As chief of staff for the strategic air come he specialized in Long Range planning. Consequently he a especially attuned to goofs in the postal service plan to align zip codes As a step toward greater automation. A i think they just took on a bigger project than they thought they did without a lot of foresight Quot peat said. A it looks like they did technical planning Anil did no to do any real thinking through of the people problem. In a sure they re buying their machines that they talk about and their machines probably will work Well eventually but people make machines  right now people in the business world Are perplexed at How their computers can accommodate the Odd a designation and in some cases the four line address. Even the companies that design computer software such As word perfect arc having a time of it peat said. American express in some instances has gone to hand addressing envelopes. Peat and his co workers Are finding in their unscientific mail sampling that the computer database provided to companies by the . Postal service is the one that can to yet quite Swallow a. Instead the computers Are using both the old by and a with the double designation popping up on everything from financial statements to . Treasury checks. A one would have thought the . Postal service would have had the foresight to at least change their database a peat said. A the people i feel sorry for Are the people Here in theater and the poor Guys who work at the Apos who have the irate customers six Days a week and its not their  More than Likely the postal service will have to extend its transition period for another year or half year he said. A i have no Hopes at All that this is All going to be squared away by the 151h of  22, 1992 Lur Day Page