Improving the Drop Shipment Process MTAC Workgroup 87 Update

1
Improving the Drop Shipment ProcessMTAC
Workgroup 87Update

• Washington, D.C.
• May 2007

2
Agenda

• Mailer Rating
• FAST March Release
• May 2007 Release
• Next Steps

3
Mailer Rating Review

• The Mailer Rating testing accomplished the
  following goals
• Allowed mailers to validate Appointment Rating
  and Corporate Rating Reports in a controlled
  environment
• Gave mailers a hands-on opportunity to schedule
  appointments with tiers and ratings turned on
• Allowed mailers to review appointment rating
  categories in detail
• Allowed mailers to validate appointment rating
  and corporate rating rules and calculations
  before applying them to the production
  environment
• Mailer Rating Pilot goals
• Have customers execute appointment scheduling
  with ratings in an operational environment with
  select pilot facilities
• Monitor SV utilization for closing out drop
  shipments
• Communicate to all mailers that ratings will be
  rolled out to all facilities following pilot
• Pilot execution June-July 2007

4
Customer Acceptance Test Mailers
Participating Mailers

• Fairrington
• Quebecor
• RR Donnelley
• Quad/Graphics
• Harte-Hanks
• Arandell
• WIT Postal Logistics

5
Customer Acceptance Test Facilities
Participating Facilities
6
Statistics

• Statistics
• Overall, about 90 of appointments had no issues
  reported, 85 without Mailer 6.
• Mailer 1 80 of the appointments had no issues
  reported
• Mailer 2 70 of the appointments had no issues
  reported
• Mailer 3 91 of the appointments had no issues
  reported
• Mailer 4 93 of the appointments had no issues
  reported
• Mailer 5 84 of the appointments had no issues
  reported
• Mailer 6 100 of the appointments had no issues
  reported
• Mailer 7 85 of the appointments had no issues
  reported

7
Mailer Findings

• Appointment IDs are not always being inputted on
  8125s
• Mailers should work with their carriers,
  consolidators, etc. to ensure that an appointment
  ID is being inputted on 8125s.
• 8125 Findings
• Signed 8125s are not always readily available as
  proof of delivery
• Drivers should take 2 copies of the 8125 with
  them to the facility so that they may keep 1 copy
  for future reference.
• No Show Appointments due to Consolidation/LTL
  Carriers
• Some mailers saw no-show appointments due to
  multiple appointments being created by various
  entities.
• The FAST system includes joint scheduling
  functionality to allow for one party to be in
  charge of appointment level (logistics)
  information, while other parties are in charge of
  content level information.
• Mailers should work with their customers to
  ensure that only one appointment is associated
  with a load for one drop shipment.

8
USPS Findings

• Arrival or Departure time not being completed on
  the 8125
• Mailers should encourage drivers to be proactive
  in getting proper arrival and departure times on
  the 8125.
• Actual Pallet Count not Matching Expected
• CAT team found scenarios where the appointment
  was created by a CAT mailer which was utilized by
  a consolidator with other content included in the
  shipment. This led to actual pallet counts being
  greater than expected.
• Content Accuracy and Irregularities Deductions
• Facilities noting irregularities inaccurately
  (i.e. An appointment that arrives with 10 more
  pallets than expected. The facility noted an
  irregularity of Container counts do not match
  8125).
• USPS to communicate to area coordinators to
  ensure facilities understand proper usage of
  irregularities.
• Other and Miscellaneous Irregularities
• Improper usage of Other and Miscellaneous
  Irregularities
• FAST will no longer deduct for Other or
  Miscellaneous irregularities
• Early Appointments receiving No-Show Status
• Unscheduled arrival being created for
  appointments arriving early
• USPS to communicate to facilities to search for
  appointment IDs if they are not visible on their
  daily schedule

9
Issues to Resolve

• The following concerns were raised by the mailers
  at the last MTAC 87 meeting
• Customers often do not get copies of signed USPS
  Form 8125 within 120 hours of the appointment to
  validate on-time accuracy
• Customers requested FAST increase the
  finalization period by an additional 7-10 days
• Customers would like an appeals process to
  contest ratings
• These items will be discussed in further detail
  at the next MTAC 87 meeting

10
FAST March Release

• The FAST system release on March 18th included
  the following enhancements and additions
• The Appointment Rating Report was updated to
  combine Submission Method and Exemptions, On-Time
  Accuracy, and Appointment and Content Accuracy
  into one view.
• The new Appointment Rating Details page describes
  in detail the appointment rating calculation on
  the following categories Submission Method
  On-time Accuracy Content Accuracy
  Pre-notification and Irregularity Deduction
  Exceptions and Exemptions.
• The Corporate Rating Report search page was
  updated to allow users to view By Facility or
  By All Facilities.
• The Corporate Rating Report was updated to show
  details such as the total number of appointments
  at each facility and the average points awarded
  per category. It also displays the average
  rating for all corporations across all
  facilities, the Corporations National Average
  Rating and the Facility Corporate Average Rating.
  
• The Closeout Data Report now displays scheduled
  and actual pallet counts for appointments.

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FAST March Release (cont.)

• The Recurring Appointment Report was updated to
  allow Users to have the ability to search
  Recurring Appointment instances by Date Range or
  all Recurring Appointment instances over the Last
  90 Days.
• Where pallet presort is provided for appointments
  created via Web Services, a validation on each
  content will occur to ensure that the number of
  presort pallets matches the total number of
  pallet assigned to the content. If not, error
  message 3045 will be displayed Pallet Presort
  Level Counts must equal Pallet Level Counts

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May 2007 Release

• FAST will begin supporting the new IDEAlliance TM
  Specification in May 2007
• Enhancements include
• Using mail.dat to provide content for recurring
  appointments
• Joint Scheduling via Web Services utilizing
  Appointment Shell by Scheduler and Delivery
  Content messages by Mail Owners and Mail
  Preparers
• Ability of Schedulers to query FAST for content
  information in joint scheduling scenarios
• Visibility for Mail Owners and Mail Preparers
• Receive redirection warnings via Web Services
• Ability to provide the Mailer Placard Barcode
  when making Web Services appointments without the
  use of mail.dat
• Changes for mixed loads and Non-Flats Machinable
  (NFM)
• Ability to note if Tandem Trailers are associated
  with appointment

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Next Steps

• Execute Mailer Rating Pilot in an operational
  environment
• Begin communicating Rating process to the rest of
  the Standard and Package Services Mail community
• Review Mailer Rating issues and National
  Deployment of rating with Workgroup