Even though most mail is trucked to Bismarck and back, a letter mailed in Minot to a Minot recipient has a 98 percent chance of being delivered the next day, officials said at a media tour held Tuesday at the Minot Post Office. That means little to gain in spending millions of dollars on equipment and a new facility to make space for it.

“Taxpayers don’t pay our way. We have to pay our own way. We have to be prudent. We have to be fiscally responsible,” said David Rupert, manager of USPS strategic communications, Denver.

The postal tour was in response to conversations in the community about eliminating the round trip local mail has been making to Bismarck since 2015 for processing. Ward County Commissioner Alan Walter raised concern last month about delayed and misdirected mail, calling for a return of processing to Minot.

Douglas Stephens, district manager for the U.S. Postal Service in the Dakotas and Montana, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Alan Serfoss, acting manager of post office operations, Great Falls, Montana, were in Minot Tuesday.

Jill Schramm/MDN Douglas Stephens, district manager with USPS, talks about features of a self-service machine at the Minot Post Office Tuesday.

Stephens explained how the growing need for mail security since the terrorist attacks in 2001 is affecting mail processing.

“We have special machines we had to invest in after 9-11 to keep not only the sanctity of the mail but the security of the American public and our own internal team members,” Stephens said. “Those machines cost millions of dollars, and the floor space we have here does not support one of those machines.”

Bismarck has a state-of-the-art machine.

“When we have nationally deployed those machines, we have specifically put them in places where we can meet our service standards,” Stephens said.

Rupert added the Postal Service must remain strategic.

Jill Schramm/MDN RIGHT: Hand-held technology now is used by Minot post office workers to assist customers and cut wait times.

“We are not going to build a post office to house those machines because the demand for our service is in decline. You don’t expand your operation when the demand for your operations is in decline,” he said. “You respond to that by being efficient.”

The Minot Post Office also doesn’t handle enough volume – only about 8,000 pieces of letter mail a day – to warrant the processing equipment, according to the Postal Service.

Regular mail leaves Minot shortly after 5 p.m. for Bismarck, where it is turned around following screening to return to Minot later that night. Stephens said the Postal Service is working to streamline its operation to ensure Minot’s mail is contained as a unit to more quickly and efficiently return.

Certain types of mail, considered “known” mail, are not required to go to Bismarck for security screening. Businesses that regularly use the postal service can participate in a metered mail service that works much like pre-screening at an airport. Business receive barcodes that entitle their mail to immediate, local processing when delivered to the post office. They also receive a price discount.

Within the Minot Post Office, operations are at their busiest between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., when mail is sorted first by carrier route and a second time to sequence mail within a route. The Minot sorting machine processes 120,000 to 160,000 pieces of mail with 587 and 588 zip codes each day. The count considers that mail is sorted twice.

Optical code readers create a file of information about that mail. Customers can sign up for informed delivery to electronically obtain that information and learn what to expect in their mailbox and when.

Stephens also addressed potential causes of mail delay, which some postal patrons have identified as a concern in Minot. He said there can be delays associated with sorting machines, such as when a letter becomes temporarily affixed to another letter so it gets routed to a wrong location. Machine-related issues are unusual but do happen, he said.

Stephens also cited other unusual situations, such as a particular instance in which a Minot postal customer re-located from a trailer park without claiming mail in the box. It was two years before the box was checked and mail returned to sender.

Using informed delivery can help customers track their mail and ensure they get their expected mail, he said.

Other ways the Postal Service is working to improve services include the installation in the Minot Post Office of a 24-7 self-service kiosk for stamps, package mailings, certified mail and other functions. The post office has added the use of hand-held technology, enabling postal workers to assist customers more quickly and reduce wait times in the post office.

The Minot Post Office has added parcel lockers, and more parcel lockers also are being placed in rural areas to increase the security for deliveries, Stephens said.

“One of our platforms that is growing is packages in rural America, and we do lead the nation on making sure if we touch it, we scan it and provide that visibility for our external customer,” Stephens said. “We deliver a lot of medicine. We deliver a lot of parts for our farmers and ranchers out there that depend on us every day, and we are very, very proud of our team members here in Minot, North Dakota, because when they can safely deliver it, they do go above and beyond to make sure that we do take care of our external customer. That being said, we are not perfect, so when we are not perfect, please let us know so we can use Continuous Improvement.”

Continuous Improvement is a postal practice that guides the process of documenting, reviewing and implementing improvements.

Stephens said mail security is taken seriously, and customers are encouraged to report any mail tampering or suspected thefts for investigation. Prospective employees must pass background and drug tests, and if internal theft is discovered – as has happened, Stephens said – employees are dismissed and the case turned over to the Office of the Inspector General.

The Minot Post Office employs 105 workers, and although it has been able to meet its staffing needs, it continually looks to hire to keep available positions filled, Stephens said. Finding employees is more challenging in the Bakken, he said. The Postal Service has used job fairs, billboards and direct mailings to advertise its positions.