Budget cuts mean official mail staff, hours to be reduced

Published Aug. 30, 2012
By Mike W. Ray
Tinker Public Affairs

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Official Mail operations and delivery schedules at Tinker Air Force Base will be scaled back, starting in September, because of federal budget cuts.

The Information Management contract -- which supports Publications/Forms, Records Management and Mail Operations -- expires on Sept. 19. As a result, staffing levels and hours of operation will be curtailed effective Sept. 20.

The number of personnel assigned to base postal services will decrease from 10 contract employees to six civilian employees, said Donna Patten, 72nd Air Base Wing Communications Directorate Client Service Center branch chief.

Additionally, in accordance with an Air Force Materiel Command mandate, base postal operations will reduce mail delivery from five days a week to two, Ms. Patten related.
Postal workers will deliver to approximately four dozen locations on Mondays and Wednesdays, and to approximately three dozen locations on Tuesdays and Thursdays, said Russell Laverty, 72nd ABW/SC Information Management Section chief. Small organizations that receive minimal volumes of mail -- just two or three pieces per week, for example -- will receive their mail on Friday mornings, Mr. Laverty said.

The Official Mail Center, located at Bldg. 23 on 5th Ave. west of "D" where all mail is in/out processed, new operating hours as of Sept. 20 will be 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekdays.
In Bldg. 3001, operating hours at the central mail room's Satellite Distribution Facility (known as Document Security), will be reduced to 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekdays.
At Bldg. 5905A, the postal service center for Tinker dormitory residents, operating hours starting Sept. 20 will be reduced to 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekdays. The dormitory postal center is currently open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

Any mail that needs to be sent out on a non-delivery day will have to be dropped off at Bldg. 3001 or Bldg. 23, Mr. Laverty said. Mail for organizations within Bldg. 3001 will be available for pickup at Document Security between 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. On non-delivery days, mail for organizations outside of Bldg. 3001 will be available for collection at Bldg. 23 between 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

These changes pertain solely to Official Mail at Tinker AFB, Mike Doolin, 72nd ABW Communications Directorate director, emphasized. The modifications do not impact operations at the U.S. Post Office in Bldg. 478.

Questions about the changes in Official Mail delivery can be sent via e-mail to Tinker Postal Operations at Tinker.Postal.Operat@tinker.af.mil, which is listed in the global address book.

Tinker's Postal Operations processes an average of 23,000 pounds of postage (office mail, USPS mail, packages, manila inter-office "holey Joe" envelopes, etc.) each month, Mr. Laverty said.