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Yokosuka Command Mail Orderly System Scheduled for Termination

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS090921-04
Release Date: 9/21/2009 2:27:00 PM

By Blake Vives, Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka Public Affairs

YOKOSUKA, Japan (NNS) -- U.S. Fleet and Industrial Supply Center (FISC) Yokosuka Military Post Office encourages all customers who receive mail from any of the 79 area command mail orderlies to sign up for an individual mail box at a local post office, in anticipation of cessation of mail orderly services.

As part of a recent initiative to streamline mail distribution, the command mail orderly program is scheduled for termination December 2010.

"We're phasing out the mail orderly system," said Master Chief Postal Clerk (SW) Otilio Santos, officer-in-charge of Ikego, Negishi and Yokosuka Military Post Offices. "Eventually, within about a year, the mail orderly program will be gone completely; so, we are encouraging mail orderly customers to sign up for a mail box now."

After a successful initial campaign in April 2009 that encouraged mail orderly patrons to switch to post office box services, FISC Yokosuka continues to encourage all remaining mail orderly customers to sign up for a post office box as soon as possible.

"We are making steady progress as additional personnel are opening mail receptacles at the post offices," said Santos. "CFAY (Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka) Security Department has really supported this initiative as all newly reporting personnel are sent directly to the post office to open up a mail receptacle. Also, postal briefs are presented at the CFAY AOB/ICR (Area Orientation Brief and Intercultural Relations) class weekly to advise all newly reporting personnel to open a mail receptacle at Yokosuka, Ikego or Negishi Post Offices because, eventually, they will no longer receive their mail through the mail orderly system."

Orders, family entry approval or command sponsorship are the only documents needed to be assigned a post office box at the Yokosuka, Ikego or Negishi Military post offices. Each customer who receives mail via the mail orderly program must fill out a change of address card and notify all correspondents of the new mailing address.

Due to logistical concerns, one group is excluded from participating in the open box initiative.

"The only exception to this recent allowance is single, deployable Sailors in forward-deployed units and this is because we want to ensure they continue to receive their mail while they're underway," said Santos.

The initiative to provide every customer with a mail receptacle will not affect Yokosuka Naval Hospital or internal FISC Yokosuka mail customers because both commands are already equipped with fully serviced post office boxes.

The workload shift from command mail orderlies to postal clerks in the post office will save each command an estimated 40 hours of labor each week.

"The benefit of moving away from the mail orderly program is that it eliminates the daily task of driving to pick up the mail, sorting the mail and performing directory services on undeliverable mail; these services could take hours a day for each command," said Santos. "Currently, the orderlies perform mail services as a collateral duty. After the transition, each command will regain the full utilization of its personnel."

Another anticipated benefit is increased mail security.

"The security of the mail will also be greatly improved because only postal clerks will handle the mail once the orderly system is gone," said Santos.

The post office advises customers take advantage of the constant mail delivery and convenient access provided by a mail box as soon as possible.

"Having a mail box at a post office is more advantageous than the current mail orderly program employed at most of the shore commands, which only process mail during the week day," said Chief Postal Clerk Chief (SW/AW) Daniel Weaver, FISC Yokosuka postal officer. "The main benefit of having a box at your local post office is the immediate sorting of the mail every day of the week and the constant availability to customers."

Additional changes at the post offices designed to improve customer service and postal efficiency include the standardization of all military addresses to allow customers use of the U.S. Postal Service online national change of address service, permitting military mail to be processed through the Postal Automation Redirection System, which will forward a military member's mail to their new address anywhere in the world.

FISC Yokosuka supports National Defense Strategies by providing around the clock logistics solutions for Navy, Marine Corps, Joint and Allied Forces operating in the 7th Fleet Area of Operations.

FISC Yokosuka, one of seven supply centers under Commander, Fleet and Industrial Supply Centers (COMFISCS), is the Western Pacific region's largest
Navy logistics command. The FISC Yokosuka enterprise is comprised of more than 20 detachments, fuel terminals and sites from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to Guam; from Misawa, Japan to Sydney, Australia.

COMFISCS comprises more than 7,500 military and civilian logistics professionals operating as a single cohesive team providing global logistics services from more than 135 locations worldwide. A component of the Naval Supply Systems Command, headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pa., COMFISCS is part of a worldwide logistics network of more than 25,000 military and civilian personnel providing combat capability through logistics.