USPS is updating its plan for deployment of its Flats Sequencing System (FSS) machines. The changes are due primarily to lower mail volume.

Under the revised plan, the Postal Service will redirect 19 of the 100 new FSS machines to new plants. Two of the 32 locations originally scheduled to receive the machines — Aliso Viejo, CA, and the Atlanta BMC, now a Network Distribution Center (Link, 8/14) — have been removed from the list. However, the revised plan increases to 42 the number of facilities receiving the high-tech sorting machines, including 12 locations that were not in the original deployment.

FSS technology automatically sorts flat mail in the order that letter carriers deliver their routes. This technology means that carriers will no longer have to case flat-size mail. Large envelopes, magazines and catalogs will arrive in walk sequence order in the same way that letter mail arrives for carriers today.

By sorting the mail in sequence order, FSS will reduce the amount of time carriers spend manually sorting mail and increase the time available to deliver mail. Improving delivery efficiencies helps the Postal Service control costs associated with the addition of nearly 1.8 million new delivery addresses each year.

Machines are already installed and operating at plants in Dulles, VA, and Columbus, OH. USPS is installing machines in Kansas City, MO, and Phoenix, AZ, that are scheduled to be operational by September 2009. The Dulles facility is sequencing flats for 41 delivery units totaling 1,238 routes.

Click here for more information on the FSS revised deployment plan.
source: USPS News link