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Complaints about late mail and no delivery have been signed, sealed and delivered to the U.S. Postal Service, and the Albuquerque plant is working to make those complaints obsolete.
On Thursday, Garry Gilmore, manager of the agency's operation on Broadway Boulevard Northeast, showed off newly installed equipment for staff members of the people who have heard an earful about postal services: U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, an Albuquerque Republican; Rep. Tom Udall, a Santa Fe Democrat; and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Silver City Democrat.
Gilmore said postal service has focused its attention on delivering mail faster and better.
"We brought in new automated machines, and we're able to get mail out to our carriers and they'll be able to deliver mail before 5 o'clock," he said.
Gilmore is aware of the complaints the federal representatives have heard, he said.
"We wanted to invite them (the representatives) so they can see the great improvements."
Gilmore said the sorting machines were brought in from Louisiana.
The machines sort mail by ZIP code, he said, "up to 35,000 pieces of mail an hour."
McKinney Boyd, U.S. Postal Service spokesman for the Southwest area, said the Albuquerque facility gets up to 3 million pieces of mail a day and more than 1 billion pieces a year.
The packages aren't always standard, either.
"Sometimes we receive baby chicks during Easter time. We also accept plasma in the mail. It's amazing what's transported through the mail," he said.
The post office has 15 of the sorting machines at the Broadway plant and three at its air mail facility at the Albuquerque International Sunport, which gives the mail to each carrier an hour earlier than before, Gilmore said.
Representatives from the offices of Bingaman, Udall and Wilson said they have noticed more timely delivery and fewer complaints.
Maria Najera, spokeswoman for Bingaman's Washington, D.C., office, said the office has noticed a decline in complaints because of the automated machines.
"Our complaints are down substantially. We've gotten one complaint in the last two weeks in the Albuquerque area," she said. "Before, we were getting several a day in the Albuquerque office."
She said the postal service has made tremendous strides to get the mail out faster.
"Their productivity has increased significantly," Najera said.
Sarah Cobb, field representative for Udall's office in Rio Rancho, said the office has heard complaints including missed and late deliveries and the post office not keeping up with West Side growth.
"Recently, the complaints have dropped off dramatically," Cobb said. "There's greater accuracy with delivery, it's more timely, they have two mobile vans in Rio Rancho. They make services more accessible."
In an e-mail, Wilson said her office has been monitoring postal service and, like Bingaman's and Udall's offices, has worked with postal officials to ensure better service.
"Today, I know particularly on the West Side they've improved their service many-fold," Wilson wrote. "I'm encouraged by what I've seen."
