More than
500 seasonal employees are joining USPS to help process mail at Ybor City
Processing & Distribution Center (P&DC) and Package Support Annex (PSA)
this holiday season.
“It was
heavy last year, about 550,000 parcels a day just out of the Ybor P&DC
alone,” said Acting Plant Manager Megan Conley. “And the annex was
an all manual operation; there were no machines.”
That’s is
all about to change with the recent installation of a Single Induction Package
Sorter (SIPS), a Spider package processor, and robots at the Annex to assist
with the rush of holiday packages.
The
installation of new automated delivery unit sorter machines for packages is
part of a plan to invest $40 billion in people, systems, and infrastructure
over the next ten years.
Conley said
she looks forward to having the SIPS this peak season. The machine, which can
process between 1,500 and 2,500 parcels per hour, is operated by three to four
clerks and two to four mail handlers.
“It’s good
and efficient, and it’s quiet, quick, and lean. There’s not much to it. It’s a
simple barcode reader – read and go,” she said. “It’s not one that we have to
spend a lot of time as far as on making sure we’re doing all that
preventative maintenance. We haven’t had any maintenance impacts from it
whatsoever.”
The Spider
is a single induct where packages, all with delivery addresses in the local
Tampa area, are scanned and sorted into four quadrants. From there, employees
grab the parcels and place them in containers. Meanwhile, the robot, which is
new to processing this year, will collect scanned pieces and drop them off in
assigned locations.
The Ybor
City facilities process mail for ZIP Codes 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 341, 342,
and 346. “The Tampa, Manasota, and Fort Myers area are all served out of here,”
said Conley.
“I think
this season is going to be heavy, of course, as forecasted, but I think it will
be much more efficient and streamlined with having the processing equipment
here and available 22 out of 24 hours a day,” she said. “Right now, the Annex
is a Tour 3 operation, but soon it will be all three tours. So, everything
is going to be cranking out all day long.
