Stamp of Approval

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor apparently El Nino stopped San Fernando Valley mail carriers from delivering letters last quarter, qualifying the area’s post offices for an award as the most punctual in the state and second-best nationwide.

It marked the second time in two years that the 50 Valley post offices received California’s top postal honor, based on rankings by an outside accounting firm, said Richard Ordonez, the U.S. Postal Service’s Van Nuys district manager.

Ninety-five percent of first-class overnight mail sent from within the Southern California region reached recipients in the Valley the next day, said Terri Bouffiou, a postal service spokeswoman.

The average score for post offices in the Los Angeles Basin was 94% for the quarter, which covered the period from Dec. 6, 1997, through Feb. 27.

Bouffiou credited the top grade to “attention to detail.”

“It’s paying attention to the fact that every piece of mail has to be picked up every day and delivered,” Bouffiou said. “It’s doing 100 little things right.”

The ranking, prepared quarterly by Price Waterhouse, involved only first-class mail, Bouffiou said.

The U.S. Postal Service defines overnight mail as standard, 32-cent envelopes mailed within the region covering Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties and parts of San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

Letters mailed by 5 p.m. from any one of those locations arrived in the Valley the next day 95% of the time, good for a second-place tie in the national rankings.

Valley post offices last won the award for most punctual in the state in the winter of 1995-96, when they received a 93%.

For the past year, Valley offices held steady at 94% before jumping ahead this winter.

That makes postal officials proudest, not only because is it the time of the annual Christmas card crush, but also the period when Mother Nature is most harsh.

“The winter season has to be the hardest time to deliver mail,” Bouffiou said. “There’s a lot of mail volume and weather to deal with. In the summer there are less weather conditions to deal with.”

But the Valley hasn’t always been known for its speedy mail carriers. From December 1993 to March 1994, the Valley received only an 81%, Bouffiou said.

The employees of the 50 offices, including about 2,500 mail carriers, will receive a free meal at work for their efforts. Model employees will receive cash awards, Ordonez said.

“It’s not the cash award or the meal” that motivates the postal employees to do well, Ordonez said. “That’s a small token of our appreciation. It’s really about doing the job we get paid to do.”