Network Operations is saving money — and probably more than a few trees — since changing the way it processes some paperwork.
The department needed to manually process PS Form 5500, Contract Route Irregularity Report, for ping non-compliance. The form is needed for “ping non-compliance,” which occurs when trucking contractors don’t regularly send their required GPS coordinates to USPS.
Manually sending the form would generate as much as 2 million printed pages, a half-million envelopes, and $3.8 million in total cost annually.
To improve the process, Network Ops established a system to automatically generate Form 5500 in PDF format and email the documents instead of sending them by letter.
The system’s name: LCRS (Logistics Condition Reporting System) Email Automated Program — or LEAP for short.
“Tens of thousands of emails with forms have been automatically sent by the program, saving significant time from what would otherwise be a laborious manual process of letter-stuffing,” said Operational Analytics Research Analyst Mark Farrell, who led the headquarters-based team that developed LEAP.
To recognize the success of the team’s efforts, USPS recently honored Network Ops with one of this year’s Postmaster General Sustainability Excellence Awards.
Farrell said LEAP could serve as a model for automating other forms.
“There are additional benefits that we feel can also be achieved,” he said.