Stamp of Approval

By ROBERT A. ROSENBLATT and NICHOLAS RICCARDI

Sept. 27, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

If you’re mailing an urgent letter, try to do it in the San Gabriel Valley.

On second thought, you’re in pretty good shape at any mailbox or post office in Southern California.

The San Gabriel Valley has the most efficient local mail service in the country, and Southern California leads all metropolitan regions nationwide, the Postal Service reported Thursday.

To the average citizen, Thursday’s announcement means less anxiety when dropping that all-important credit card bill into the black hole of a mailbox. But to the more than 1,000 employees at the mammoth City of Industry postal distribution center, it’s a vindication after enduring years of postal jokes, which became a bitter tragedy last summer when an employee there fatally shot his supervisor.

Thomas Wilson, plant manager for the Industry center at the hub of the Postal Service’s San Gabriel Valley operations, remembered holding the press conference after the shooting.

“When we talked to the public that morning, we told them that this was an exception, that the people who worked here were fine and dedicated employees,” Wilson said Thursday, as employees milled under a banner outside the center reading “On-Time Service Ranked 1.”

“This is proof positive that those are the type of people we have in this plant.”

Moments later, Wilson stood behind a podium congratulating whooping employees on being the best local distribution center in the nation. “Number 1! Number 1!” the crowd chanted.

“It’s not quite like the Dodgers winning the World Series,” said Brian Hudson, an electrical technician. “But it does give you a little ‘Attaboy!’ ”

The area covered by the Industry center--incorporating 46 post offices, stations and branches, from Alhambra to Norco to Rancho Cucamonga--had 96% of the first-class letters and packages mailed by 5 p.m. delivered the next day.

California had the best rates of any state, and a record 91% of all mail nationally met the target for metropolitan-area, overnight delivery within a 60-mile range. The record was set in the fourth quarter of the Postal Service’s fiscal year, which ended Sept. 13, and represented a substantial jump over the previous peak of 87% a year earlier.

“We promised the American people a national service record and postal employees all across the country delivered,” Postmaster General Marvin Runyon said Thursday.

Performance in the sprawling Southern California region was even better, although the distances for overnight delivery here are often far greater than the typical 60-mile range in most U.S. metropolitan areas.

Local first-class mail was delivered overnight 93% of the time in the region of 13 million people, which ranges from Lancaster in the north to San Diego in the south, and from San Bernardino and Riverside in the east to the Pacific Ocean.

The study of mail efficiency was conducted by the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse, which sends 500,000 pieces of first-class mail--letters, large envelopes of various sizes and postcards--every quarter to randomly selected addresses. The time of mailing and time of delivery are logged. The national figure of 91% in the past quarter was the highest level since the independent surveys began in 1990, when on-time delivery was just 81%.

Though the spotlight Thursday was on Industry, every distribution plant serving Southern California had good news.

Van Nuys, which serves the San Fernando Valley, had a 93% record, up from 90% in the same period a year earlier.

The Los Angeles processing plant, which serves the entire city except for the San Fernando Valley, had a 91% performance, up from 85% a year earlier.

Long Beach, which serves the South Bay, including Whittier, Hawthorne, Downey and Rancho Palos Verdes, had a record of 93%, up from 90%.

The Marina plant, handling mail for Topanga, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Culver City, rose to 91% from 87% a year earlier.

Santa Ana, which serves Orange County, also reached a record 93%, up from 91% a year earlier. All 10 California distribution sites were 90% or better in performance, with Oakland the lowest at 90%.

A multibillion-dollar investment in automation is taking hold nationwide, helping to improve efficiency throughout the massive postal network.

The workers at the 413,000-square-foot Industry plant credit automation with speeding up their operation, which distributes more than 3 million pieces daily. When the surveys began in 1990 they ranked near the bottom, but have rapidly improved. Last year they posted a 90% rate.

For months, employees could read weekly postings of how their plant compared to others nationwide. As the numbers climbed, plant managers from other states would ask: “What’s your secret?”

“We told them we were simply doing basic things better,” Wilson said. They stepped up their internal quality testing and worked closer with their distributors and area businesses, he said.

They also thought about James Whooper III, the supervisor fatally shot by employee Bruce William Clark on July 9, 1995. Clark is serving a 22-year prison sentence for the killing.

“I knew him very well,” said Joann Askew, 44, a 14-year Industry veteran, recalling her slain colleague. “It hurt me a lot. I’ll always remember him. Life is unexpected. . . . It seems like we all became closer.”

Despite melancholy memories, the mood remained festive Thursday, as employees focused on their new position as top postal dog, which knocked the previous champion, Wichita, Kan., off its perch.

“Now that we’re No. 1, we have bragging rights,” Tour Supt. Gabriel Serrato said, then proceeded to use them. “How many people are in Wichita? Five?”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Postal Promptness

In a recent survey, the City of Industry postal delivery center, which serves the San Gabriel Valley, scored a 96% rating for on-time delivery of local overnight first-class mail--the best in the nation. How other centers were rated:

BEST SERVICE NATIONWIDE

City of Industry: 96%

San Diego: 95%

Birmingham, Ala.: 95%

Buffalo, N.Y.: 94%

Erie, Pa.: 94%

Sioux Falls, S.D.: 94%

Wichita, Kan.: 94%

New Brunswick, N.J.: 94%

Honolulu: 94%

WORST SERVICE NATIONWIDE

Chicago: 80%