It’s a First-Class Ranking for Valley Post Offices

It was enough to make a postmaster downright cocky.

Rankings released Thursday showed San Fernando Valley post offices tied for the fastest in the nation in delivery of first-class mail.

Celebrating with nearly 100 postal employees, Van Nuys district Postmaster Woody DeWitt issued his customers a challenge: “Test us, just as Price Waterhouse challenges us every quarter.”

As if to back up the challenge, the celebrants released hundreds of red, white and blue helium-filled balloons bearing a coupon good for free stamps.

Handling more than 5 million pieces of mail a day, the Valley’s 50 post offices delivered 96% of the first-class overnight mail sent within Southern California to area recipients by the next day, DeWitt said. Two other postal districts, both in Pennsylvania, matched the Valley’s performance for the period ranked--Feb. 27 through May 22.

“We [try to] make sure we deliver every piece every day without fail,” DeWitt said. “We have a number of innovative employees and we have good leadership, not only at the management level but at all levels.”

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The ranking, prepared by accounting firm Price Waterhouse, marked a one percentage point climb from the previous quarter, when the Valley’s post offices were named the most reliable in the state.

The accounting firm ranks post offices on their ability to deliver only first-class mail. 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.

The average score for post offices in the Los Angeles Basin was 94%. The Long Beach district post offices tied for second place nationally with a 95% score and the City of Industry and Santa Ana branches scored 94%. Both the Los Angeles Central City and Westside, as well as South Bay offices, scored 93%, the highest ever for those offices.

“It feels real good to be recognized for our hard work,” said Debbie Kelly, a letter carrier for nine years in Burbank. “I make over 400 deliveries a day, about 16 to 18 feet of letters a day.”