Transcript Slide 0
Postal Automated Redirection System
(PARS)
John Keegan
Manager, Automation Equipment
USPS Engineering
Agenda
Background on USPS mail forwarding operations
Overview of PARS
PARS cost reduction Areas
Change of Address Card Data Entry
Forwarding Process
Address Correction Service
Lessons Learned
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Background
The United States has half of the worlds mail
Since 1988 USPS Engineering has purchased over
10,000 pieces of automation equipment to sort the letters
and flats
Delivery Bar Code Sorter
Advanced Facer Canceller
PARS
Flat Sequencing System
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What is PARS?
…An initiative by the US Postal Service that drastically reduces the
cost of forwarding mail to a customer’s new address by automating
each of the manual or mechanized processes.
2003 cost to forward mail was over $1.5 billion
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PARS History
Signed a contract with Siemens in 2002 and from 2003 through 2007
PARS delivered the following items at 283 processing centers
nationwide at a cost of over $700 million:
290 delivery bar code sorters retrofitted with a PARS labeling
module – Combined Input Output Sub-system (CIOSS)
4,527 delivery bar code sorters (DBCS) upgraded with new
computers to intercept forwarded mail.
8,270 computer servers installed to provide optical character
recognition and directory service.
1,080 Advanced Facer Canceller Systems upgraded
3,084 computer terminals placed at remote encoding sites for
image keying
85 Change of Address Card Scanners
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PARS Statistics
55 million
Change-of-Address
orders for
customers that
moved in 2008
18% through the
internet
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PARS Statistics
USPS forwarded
over
billion
pieces of mail in
2008
2.4
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Original Change of Address Process
Delivery Unit
Forwarding Unit
Change
Card
Change
cards on file
18 months
PARS
Memphis TN
National
database
National
Center
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PARS Change-of-Address Process
Memphis TN
National Center
Redesigned
Change-ofAddress
form
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Scanned and
processed by OCR
software along with
remote video
operators at 4
locations
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Old Mail Forwarding Process
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PARS Interception
If the
delivery
point bar
code and
patron name
matches the
database
PARS
PARS
intercepts
and labels
over 60% of
the
forwarded
mail with the
new address
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Overview – System Architecture
Advanced
Forwarding
Reader
(AFR)
finalizes
over 60% of
images
Remote
Encoding
Forwarded mail pieces
are identified on all
equipment
Images are processed
on the AFR
If the AFR cannot resolve,
the image goes to a remote
encoding operator
Any non intercepted
pieces the carrier sends to
the CIOSS
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Combined Input Output Subsystem (CIOSS)
Applies and prints
labels with new
address’s at over
30,000
pieces/hour
CIOSS
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Combined Input Output Subsystem (CIOSS)
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Combined Input Output Subsystem (CIOSS)
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High Speed Label Applicator
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Original Address Correction Service
Address Correction Service is provided to mailers that want to
know if their customers have moved
Pieces that require notification were identified
Pieces were manually copied onto card stock with the new address
and sent to the mailer via manual mail handling operations
The mailer pays $.70 for each card sent
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Postal Automated Redirection System
Address Correction Service
Form 3547 Fee due 70 cents
ACME Publishing
PO Box 15223
Somewhere NY 10013
John Doe
7 Miner Street Apt. 3
Anywhere MA 07890
7 Miner Street Apt. 3
Anywhere MA 07890
10 Main Street
Smalltown CA 90210
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TO THE POSTMASTER OF
ACME Publishing
PO Box 15223
Somewhere NY 10013
Cards are
automatically
generated,
sorted by city,
and printed at
the National
Center
75 million
cards printed in
2008
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Centralized Address Change Printer
Located at the National Center, Memphis TN
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Incentive Based Contract
Business Case based on paying for a multiple of actual
USPS savings
TARGET CATEGORY
Baseline
Performance
Improvement
Performance at
End of Program
Savings per
Piece
Total Savings
($M)
Payout Factor
Payout ($M)
Increase UAA Intercept
68.73%
1.87%
70.60%
$0.0288
$1.35
1.75
$2.36
AFR INT Finalization Rate
65.00%
12.33%
77.33%
$0.0355
$6.29
2.00
$12.59
AFR CIF Finalization Rate
38.86%
5.72%
44.58%
$0.0355
$2.05
2.00
$4.10
AFR RTS Finalization Rate
59.21%
12.77%
71.98%
$0.0355
$7.22
2.00
$14.44
Improve REC UAA Productivity
720
59
779
$0.0027
$4.53
1.75
$7.93
Improve REC COA Productivity
159
38
197
$0.0310
$1.26
2.25
$2.82
TOTAL
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$22.70
$44.24
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Lessons Learned
Business
Performance based incentive contract was low risk and a
win win for both USPS and Siemens
Implementation
Acceptance and training of field operations personnel was
key
Testing
Delays could have been avoided by gradual systematic
testing
Testing at various sized sites would have been beneficial
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Lessons Learned
Customer Service
A positive affect was the reduction of customer complaints
– 60 % reduction in complaints on forwarded mail
– Complaints on fraudulent address change cards
reduced from 27,000 in 2004 to only 368 in 2008
Technical
Good results from Siemens using a graphical decision
tree representation to document over 3,000 forwarding
rules
Excellent error rate on change of address cards with two
OCRs and keyers.
Adding too many features into one release caused the
delay of valuable software that reduced operating costs.
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Summary of Benefits
Improved operational efficiency
Change-of-Address Cards – reduce manual entry
Interception – Eliminates extra handlings and reduces
manual keying workload
Address Correction Service – eliminates manual copying
and sorting of mail
Faster and more accurate service to customers
Significant system performance improvements since 2004
Interception rate went from 50% to 69%.
The average OCR finalization rate 37% to 60%.
Over $400 million in annual cost savings
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Future PAR Plans
Continue incentive based contracts to further improve interception
AFR read rate , rejects and errors
Planning PARS for Flats by retrofitting flat sorting machines and
using the same PARS OCR and keying terminals
Email any questions to [email protected]
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Questions
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