Re: [AISdiscuss] AIS Bulletins-one last time.

[Terry Aitken <terry@flowerfantasy.net>]

Hi all- one last time.!
After this message, I will sign off on this subject as any futher 
discussion is a waste of my time and your time.
John, your description is so right. The "choke points" are the BMEU's  
(Business Mail Entry Points.) as described in Bruce's forward from 
Dustin Aman at AKA Direct.  Ron James message was also correct except 
for one word which seemed puzzling . It was "RE-wrapped". No. At AKA, 
the bulletins in their shrink wrap, are bundled into heavy duty mail 
bags which are sorted by zip code numbers and the only thing on the 
outside of the bag is the zip code.
    Harold Lee, our representative at the main Portland post office 
(BMEU) pulled the files for me and we physically examined the paperwork 
on the January Bulletin. They were sorted into 3 digit bags and all went 
to Seattle (except the Portland Bulletins) on the 26 January. When those 
bags get to their 3 digit destination, presumably another BMEU, they are 
RE-BAGGED (not rewrapped) into 5 digit bags for local distribution. 
These bags are very heavy duty and hold about 50 pounds each - I.ve done 
it with the 75th Anniversary issue where we hand sorted (with a 7 person 
crew) and delivered 3 pickup truckloads of bags to the Post Office.
   While I was at the Post office with Harold yesturday(I spent 2 hours 
in the worst traffic I have ever seen in Portland), I cried on his 
shoulder about all of the difficulties we had experienced. Harold is a 
highly professional (good public relations ) man. -Yes, we are getting 
the best rate we can as a non-profit organization mailing bulk rate. 
-Yes, they all left Portland on the 26 of January for Seattle , the next 
BMEU.-Yes, ALL of the bulletins are processed at one time. -Yes, the 
system should never leave bags behind at postal exchange points, 
although they may sit there until a 5 digit bag is full... -No, there is 
no tracking system once the bags leave Portland. Yes, Harold was 
dismayed at the slow delivery but had no explanation as to how it could 
happen. -Yes, there are no guarrantees but that this  particular 
delivery was really poor. Our only option for faster delivery would be 
to charge more for First Class Mail. (Gerry once suggested that he would 
be willing to do that)
   John's description is right. There was not fault at  AKA-Direct  nor 
at the Portland Post Office. It is somewhere in the distribution system. 
Perhaps ,if we MUST speculate(bad joke) maybe a Postal truck got buried 
in a snowbank while crossing the Rocky Mountains and it didn't show up 
untill 8' of snow melted. ???? (Hey, there you go, Betty!)
   While I was at the Post Office with Harold, he called AKA and talked 
to Dustin. (these people are all on a first name basis) Dustin says the 
April Bulletin will be at the Post Office late Tuesday or early 
Wednesday at the latest.
   Since about 6 months after 9/11, we (Aitken's Salmon Creek Garden) 
have had excellent service by the Post Office, both bulk mailing of our 
catalogs and Priority mailing of plants all over the country. I really 
think this was just a glitch in the system and more closely related to 
weather problems or fires in Oklahoma than anything else. Interesting 
situation coming up. Our bulk rate catalogs will arrive on Harold's desk 
a couple of days after the April Bulletin. It will be a race to see 
which one gets delivered first??? Let me know.
Terry
Back to spraying and weeding!

John I Jones wrote:

> When the bulletins enter the post office "pipeline" they enter a 
> system that spreads out like fingers on a hand, only with more 
> branching. Choke points can occur many different places along those 
> lines.
>
> We did not have a universal late delivery problem. So assuming that 
> the bulletins were all delivered to the post office at the same time. 
> It would not appear that we had a problem at the head of the "pipeline".
>
> It would seem to me that given the Post office stated policy on our 
> type of publication, that their policy allows a non-uniform process in 
> handling the bulletins. Because of this it may be that the problem 
> with our delivery exists at multiple branches in the post office 
> pipeline and not necessarily at the individual delivery office nor at 
> a single point of failure. 
 
> John
>
>
> On Mar 25, 2006, at 2:40 AM, CEMahan@aol.com wrote:
>
> > In a message dated 3/24/2006 1:40:24 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> > bfilardi@comcast.net writes:
>
> John                | "There be dragons here"
>                          |  Annotation used by ancient cartographers
>                          |  to indicate the edge of the known world.
>
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