Bulk-mail service leaving Burbank

Molly Shore

About 400 Burbank bulk-mail users will soon have to travel outside

the city to send their letters, bills and periodicals.

Bulk mail processed by the Burbank main post office will cease

Aug. 15, necessitating a trip to North Hollywood or Glendale post

offices, where new automated equipment to handle bulk mailing will be

installed. The equipment will also be available in Van Nuys and

Canoga Park.

“New machines can’t be installed in all offices because it’s very

expensive equipment,” said Janie Isaguirre, business mail entry

manager for the U.S. Postal Service in Santa Clarita.

To qualify for bulk-mailing rates, which are discounted, customers

must mail a minimum of 500 items at a time, postal service

spokeswoman Teri Bouffiou said. Postage is paid at the time of

mailing, and there is an annual permit fee, which is $150 for

standard mailings and $375 for periodicals, she said.

“Timewise, it will definitely be more difficult because,

obviously, it won’t be in our own backyard,” said Clint Cook,

customer service supervisor for Burbank Water and Power.

Cook, who oversees BWP’s mailroom staff, said there will have to

be some rearranging of the staff to adjust to the time change and the

travel time. BWP generates about 4,700 bills per month, according to

Cook, who added that bills are mailed daily, rather than once a

month.

“We are going to have to be on our toes to make sure that the

bills are done in a timely fashion,” Cook said. “If the billing

machine breaks down, we’re not going to have as much time to pick up

and go.”

Bulk mailing for the Burbank Chamber of Commerce is handled by the

chamber’s member company, Warren Printing and Mailing in Eagle Rock.

June Lain, Warren’s customer service representative, said the

company handles a minimum of 9,400 bulk mailings for the chamber

every month. The mailings have gone out through the Burbank post

office, but when it closes, the mail will be taken to Van Nuys, she

said.

“It will be extremely inconvenient for us,” she said. “As the

mailer for the chamber, it’s likely that we will lose on the cost

because we won’t increase charges to the chamber.”

The Glendale post office is at 313 E. Broadway, and the North

Hollywood post office is at 7035 Laurel Canyon Blvd. Hours are 11:30

a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays at both locations.