AUTOMATED MAIL CENTER GOES ON LINE

Mail service isn't what it used to be. From Cape Girardeau Postmaster Mike Keefe's viewpoint, hopefully it's better.

To that end, a new mail processing center opened in Cape Girardeau Saturday afternoon, putting its mark on a more automated way of doing business.

"We are a service organization," said Keefe. "We are supposed to give good service. We think we can get better service at a cheaper cost.

"That's what we are striving for," he said.

"We're not claiming we are going to save time (with the new center). What we will be able to do is process more mail with less people," he pointed out.

The postal center is housed in a 37,604-square-foot building in the Cape West Industrial Park. The facility is leased from Drury Development Corporation.

Built as a spec building, it has been revamped to meet the needs of the U.S. Postal Service, Keefe said. "After it was constructed, they had to take a back wall out, and we added on 40 more feet."

"They have done a tremendous job," Keefe said of Drury Development. "The building is beautiful, very functional."

Keefe said that by starting up processing operations at the new facility this weekend, postal employees have time "to work out the bugs" when the volume of mail is less. With the start of the regular work week on Monday, the volume of mail will pick up due to business mailings, said Keefe.

Initially, the processing center is sorting all incoming and outbound mail for two zip code areas Cape Girardeau (637) and Sikeston (638). In early February, the center's operations will be expanded to include processing of mail from Poplar Bluff (639) and Flat River (636).

New high speed equipment at the center will sort 26,000 pieces of mail an hour. The new machinery scans the address and sprays a bar code on the envelope.

One sorting machine can do the work of 15 mail clerks, Keefe said.

The center, he said, will handle on average about 550,000 pieces of mail a day, and operate with 78 clerks, plus some temporary employees.

The processing center will operate around the clock, with three different shifts. Most of the processing work will be done at night, he said.

Keefe said automation is cost effective. A machine can process 1,000 letters at a cost of about $3. For a mail clerk to manually process 1,000 letters, it costs about $35.

"We have to operate more efficiently to keep costs down," the postmaster explained.

By using automated sorting and processing equipment, the postal service hopes to eliminate 87,000 postal jobs by 1995, said Keefe.

Since 1990, about 37,000 postal jobs have been eliminated nationwide through attrition, he said.

"For the last two years, we have been in what you call a hiring freeze. We have not been replacing people. We have been using temporary help," he explained.

The opening of the processing center frees up needed space at the 25-year-old Cape Girardeau post office on Frederick Street. "This will extend the life of that post office indefinitely," he said.

Postal personnel, such as mail carriers and window clerks, will continue to operate out of the Frederick Street facility.

While the new processing facility should be an improvement, Keefe said that the impact won't be readily noticeable to the general public in terms of mail delivery.

"I don't think that truthfully the general public will realize any change whatsoever in the mail flow," he said.

Keefe said he hopes to hold an open house next spring to allow the general public a chance to tour the processing center.