Tests Begin for New Postal Forwarding System
Testing of the U.S. Postal Service's new automated mail forwarding process in the central Florida district is scheduled to end in mid-November, the postal service said this month.Called the postal automated redirection system, or PARS, it will be expanded to three major USPS mail centers in January: the Dulles plant in Virginia, the Orlando, FL, plant and the Middlesex Essex plant in Massachusetts. PARS is expected to be fully deployed by 2006.
The USPS processes more than 43 million change-of-address orders and forwards more than 2 billion pieces of mail yearly. Using new and enhanced automation equipment and recognition technology, PARS will identify and intercept undeliverable-as-addressed letters earlier in the sorting process and automatically redirect them to the correct addresses.
