A just-completed two-year test of “intelligent” flat mail sorting equipment that deciphers hard-to-read addresses while sorting three times as fast as previous equipment was a success, a senior postal official said yesterday at the monthly Board of Governors meeting.
Previously, flat mail was sorted by hand or on labor-intensive mechanized equipment. The new system, the Automated Flat Sorting Machine 100, sorts 15,000 pieces per hour, an increase of 10,000 pieces over the previous equipment, and at one-third of the cost, said manager of processing operations Walter O'Tormey.
The AFSM 100 is expected to save the USPS $292.5 million this year.
