NORFOLK, Va. — Over the last few years, major upgrades have been made at the United States Postal Service's Sorting and Delivery Centers — on Wednesday, News 3 took a tour to see the developments at Norfolk's USPS building.
This is all part of the organization's 10 year plan, dubbed “Delivering for America.” This project, funded by over $40 billion, aims to improve delivery vehicles and install sorting machines.
“We are in the midst of deploying thousands of new delivery vehicles configured to improve our fleets efficiency and reliability.” said Tracy Powers, Executive Manager of Fleet Operations with USPS.
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According to Powers, their current fleet was, in some cases, more than 30 years old — some vehicles dated back to the late 80s. These aging vehicles are being replaced by bigger and more fuel efficient vehicles, allowing drivers to carry more packages and drive further. Depending on the vehicle, USPS drivers will save on the cost of gas entirely, as some vehicles will be electric.
The vehicles will also have a bigger windscreen for better visibility, and reverse cameras to allow for more maneuverability.
“These vehicles will provide a safe and more comfortable working environment for the tens of thousands of carriers who diligently serve 169 million addresses across the country including right here in Norfolk,” Powers said.
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However, major upgrades have been made inside the building too. According to Tonya Dodson, the Sorting and Delivery Center Project Manager Analyst with USPS, the company is in the middle of installing sorting machines to their centers. This means mail can be sorted quicker, sorting more than 4,000 pieces of mail per hour.
“Just imagine, having thousands of packages coming in and we just have to hand it off and sort it individually into different sortations. Versus us having a system, a machine, that has different sortations, you can throw it on there and it will automatically drop it in those particular bins,” Dodson told News 3.
Plus, it minimizes the risk for a mistake to be made.
“The machine has a misread so it allows us, if it doesn’t know which sortation to go in, it’s designated for a misread section. So if it doesn’t pick it, it drops it in there and then that may go through the system again,” she added.
Other additions to the building include enhancements to the break room, such as adding an ice machine to support drivers in cool weather. Additionally, News 3 has previously reported on mail key thefts, highlighting how mail carriers are often targeted to gain control of their mail keys.
Read previous coverage:
Investigations
Man allegedly threatened mailman in Virginia Beach with gun to steal arrow key
Well good news! Because of this Delivering for America Plan, the postal service has upgraded their blue collection boxes with security enhancements, which removes the need for a postal key entirely.
“Postal robberies have decreased 27% in fiscal year 2024 versus 2023,” said Keith Moore with the USPS’s Inspection Service.
Plus, if you would like to sign up for USPS’s Informed Delivery Service, which gives up to the minute data on the status of your package, click here.
