Putting His Stamp On Hawaii
Under Daryl Ishizaki’s watch, mail service in Honolulu rates No. 1 in the U.S.
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Ishizaki: ‘The change in postal rates now depicts
the true cost of doing business’
more evident than it is here. when you mix the Postal Service’s common goals and objectives with aloha, you get a spirit of customer service that far exceeds what is experienced elsewhere.”
Honolulu District serves the islands of Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, Rota and America Samoa. That covers 76 post offices, 39 stations and branches,11,300 square miles and 635,595 addresses including post office boxes.
When Ishizaki arrived, he visited each post office and saw the need to improve facilities. He claims there were things that “went under the radar because employees won’t complain. They make do because it is their culture,” he says. Improvements are nearly complete, including plans for an additional 87,000 square feet for the existing processing plant of 330,000 square feet.
The processing plant (back of the house) is a fascinating logistical epicenter.
At the turn of the 20th century, the Post Office Department relied on antiquated mail handling operations, such as the “pigeonhole” method of letter sorting.
The Postal Service entered the age of automation in 1982 when the first computer-driven single-line optical character reader was installed. Today, multiline optical character readers can scan the entire address on a printed or handwritten envelope, affix a bar-code, and sort it at the rate of more than nine per second.
Letter mail represents approximately 70 percent of the Postal Service’s total volume. Mail and packages are flown on airlines with which the Postal Service has contractual agreements.
Ishizaki says that after 9/11, the use of commercial airlines changed the scope and flexibility of moving mail in the air, which particularly impacted Hawaii. “We now move a lot of mail on private couriers, such as FedEx and UPS. In Hawaii, most
of their market share is owned by the U.S. Postal Service, and that’s unique.”
Moving mail across oceans and between islands is an inherent challenge to Hawaii. “But our limitations allow us to shine,” Ishizaki says. “We’re unique in not letting those challenges stand in the way.”
Another paradigm shift is postal rates. The trend from weight-based rates to shape-based rates is changing the postal pricing structure completely.
Ishizaki explains, “With automation equipment, we can move letters more quickly at a lower cost. Our old rates never recognized that. The change in postal rates now depicts the true cost of doing business.”
Shape-based postage means separate prices for letters, large envelopes (flats) and packages. For example, a 2-ounce letter previously was 63 cents, now it is 58 cents. A 2-ounce large envelope was 63 cents, now it is 97 cents. A 2-ounce package was 63 cents before, now it is $1.30.
“The new pricing system gives customers the opportunity to save money as they find ways to prepare their mail in shapes that reduce processing costs for the Postal Service,” he says. “If the contents of a large envelope can be folded and placed in a lettersized envelope, the customer can mail as a letter and reduce postage.”
This has major implications for retail customers, who are heavy users of direct mail as a form of marketing and advertising.
International mail pricing changed too.
“We now offer an 8 percent discount on international express mail and a 5 percent discount on priority mail international when purchased online,” Ishizaki says. “This is good news for Hawaii, where there is a lot of international mailing to Asia.”
There are those who thought the postal service would be a dinosaur with the advent of electronic communications, such as e-mail and Internet commerce.
“Actually, it’s been a boom to us,” Ishizaki states. “A morph took place with direct marketing to customers, and personalized communications has really taken off. Businesses are now able to target customers and develop oneon-one relationships as never before. The postal service picks up the ball after the business and customer has made contact. We have spurred the growth of home-based businesses.
“For every dollar that the Postal Service brings in, it represents 10 times as much in commerce moving through the country,” he explains. “That means the USPS impacts $900 billion worth of business in America.”
Think about that the next time we mail a birthday card to Aunty Mary. Put a forever stamp on it, and let the Ishizaki pono express take it on its appointed rounds.
And not on Hawaiian time.
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