# Presentation: 670821

## Improving the Drop Shipment ProcessMTAC Workgroup 87Update

*** ****Washington, D.C.*
*May 2007*

## Agenda

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

## 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

## Customer Acceptance Test  Mailers

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

**Participating Mailers**

## Customer Acceptance Test Facilities

**Participating Facilities**

## 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

**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

**Statistics**

## 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.

- 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.

**Mailer 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

- 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

**USPS Findings**

## 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**

##  FAST March Release

**The FAST system release on March 18****th**** 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 Corporation’s National Average Rating and the Facility Corporate Average Rating.
- The Closeout Data Report now displays scheduled and actual pallet counts for appointments.

##  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”

## 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

## 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