Mail delivery stays on track in LV

Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2001 | 8:45 a.m.

Las Vegas, a major Western mail hub, is maintaining on-time delivery of first-class mail in the wake of a nationwide realignment of out-of-town mail delivery standards established this year, a U.S. Postal Service official says.

Meanwhile, cities such as Denver, another major Western hub, have experienced one-day delays to its former two-day internal commitments established by the national headquarters of the Postal Service.

However, because of the system realignment, Denver and other cities are allowed to meet newly designated three-day schedules for some destinations that used to get out-of-town mail from them within two days.

Vic Fenimore, spokesman for the Postal Service in Las Vegas, said the city has been able to maintain two-day internal commitments because little was changed by the national office as it pertains to mail leaving Las Vegas.

"We have long used trucks to send out a tremendous amount of our mail -- 40 percent for all envelopes and packages and 35 percent of all first-class letters," he said. "The only changes from plane to truck have been our routes to Sacramento and Ontario, Calif."

The national standard is that any mail that can be delivered from city to city in 12 hours must go by truck. Ironically, it takes trucks from Las Vegas 13 hours to reach Denver, but because of the one-hour time zone difference, Denver falls within the 12-hour trucking limit.

On the other hand, because it takes trucks from Denver 14 hours -- that includes the added hour for the time zone difference -- the mail from Denver to Las Vegas has to go by air.

Although that was a plus from the 1950s through '80s, when the air mail stamp was still being used -- and even mail with just regular postage was routinely flown -- today it can be a big disadvantage going the air route with mail.

Today airline service, which concentrates on passenger needs, has become a less reliable method for sending mail. Often large sacks of mail have been left behind at airports because room was needed for luggage and other cargo.

"We've seen our mail pulled off scheduled flights, and there have been flight delays because of inclement weather," Fenimore said. "Overall, we've found trucking to be more dependable. Even in bad weather trucks manage to get through for us to meet our on-time deliveries."

And, Fenimore said, in cases where Las Vegas has been given a three-day window of internal commitment by the national office, the local post office has tried to maintain two-day delivery to areas that have long received mail in two days.

"Our first class mail to Reno is now designated as a three-day internal commitment, but we still make the two-day commitment," Fenimore said. "Our trucks get to Reno in about eight hours, so we can do it."