MAIL CENTER PREPARES FOR BIG CHANGES

Area businesses and residents will be learning some new mail-handling techniques when a new mail processing center opens in Cape Girardeau this fall.

"There will be some very dramatic changes," said Larry Shafer, account representative of the U.S. Postal Service who has the task of preparing businesses for the new changes. "These changes will effect every business and resident in the area."

Among primary changes will be a nine-number zip code, all-cap letters and no punctuations on the address labels.

Cape Girardeau has been selected as the site for a new mail processing center, which will process all mail that is generated from four Southeast Missouri zip code areas - 636 (Flat River), 637 (Cape Girardeau), 638 (Sikeston) and 639 (Poplar Bluff).

"We'll install new high-tech machinery that will process mail in a faster and more accurate fashion," said Shafer. "We'll be introducing new innovations and procedures to prepare for the new machines."

Shafer said the new center would be in operation in a rented facility by late October or early November.

"We'd like to be in full operation by mid-November," said Shafer. "This operation will provide a faster and more accurate means of posting the mail."

The center, when completed, will process incoming and outgoing mail utilizing new automated equipment.

Shafer said the new machinery will include a `character reader" that will scan the address and send the mail to a bar code machine, which sprays the bar code onto the envelope.

The new high speed equipment is programmed to "read" and "sort" up to 30,000 pieces of mail per hour, said Shafer, who added that the optical character readers (OCRs) and bar code sorters (OCSs) are the latest in computerized processing machines.

One of the biggest changes for businesses will be the address labels.

"We've always been taught to use upper- and lower-case letters," said Shafer. "And, we've always used commas between cities and states, and periods after abbreviations."

That will all change.

"Businesses will be asked to use all-cap letters on the address labels," Shafer said. "And, there will be no punctuation of any kind no commas, no periods, nothing.

"This format is a must for the new machinery we'll have here," said Shafer.

"We'll be targeting businesses for cooperation in this matter," said Shafer. "I'll be meeting with businesses and conducting seminars in preparation for the fall start."

Business correspondence makes up the bulk of the mail.

"Naturally, we don't expect people in their homes to haul out a typewriter every time they want to mail a letter," he said. "But, the bulk of mail, which will go through this new center, will be business mail."

The "zip-code-plus-four" will apply to both businesses and residents, said Shafer.

"The new nine-digit zip code helps separate the mail down to specific areas and streets," said Shafer. "Those last four numbers designate specific areas within an area. Every block or two may have a different code in those last four letters."

The Postal Service will hold a special seminar for printers Aug. 12 at the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

"Printers will be asked by many businesses to print their business mail in a new format," said Shafer. "We'll provide guidelines to assist printers in these new printing concerns."