August 2012
Issue 57
Clarification of International
Mail Acceptance at the
KSU Contract Postal Unit:
Effective May 21, 2012, all international mail parcels bearing a PS Form 2976-A or PS
Form 2976 customs declaration that was not completed and submitted online can
ONLY be accepted at a retail service counter at a post office, such as the Manhattan
Post Office at 5th and Leavenworth or the KSU Contract Postal Unit at the west end of
Dykstra Hall located at 17th and Claflin.
What does this mean for you, our customers?
If you walk into the KSU Contract Postal Unit with an international parcel, you will be
asked to complete an online customs form on a computer we have provided for your
convenience. We also have a USPS brochure that explains this process. Once the
customs form is completed online, we can assist with applying the necessary postage.
Thank you for your compliance with these federal regulations and for
continuing to work with us to provide the best possible international mail
service.
CMS NTP - Central Mail Services
News, Tips, and Pointers
Hello, everybody! Welcome to the first edition of CMS NTP. My name is Jay Henning
and I took over as the Administrative Officer in May. Although I am new to the position, I am
not new to Central Mail Services. I had been working as a Senior Administrative Assistant in
CMS since July 2011 (although I guess maybe many of you would still consider that “new”).
Before that, I retired after serving in the U.S. Army for 22 years in human resources, operations,
supervisory, and administrative roles. I hope to bring a new, fresh perspective to Central Mail
and a customer service attitude that is second to none. I will strive to bring the best service we
can to you, our customers, and do everything we can to provide you with the best, most
efficient, quality service to support the K-State community. Obviously, most of what we do is
under the guidance of the carriers that we provide service through (namely United Parcel
Service [UPS], FedEx, and United States Postal Service [USPS]). So, although we strive for the
best customer service, some services have to fit within their parameters which is why we are
your subject matter experts with the knowledge, skills, and abilities acquired through 50 plus
years of shipping experience! If you have any questions, concerns about any of my carriers, or
complaints, please call or e-mail me directly at 532-7751 or jayh@ksu.edu. Now that the
introductions are over, let me catch you up on the business of Central Mail and offer tips on
how you can ensure the most efficient handling of your mail.
On July 2nd, we took over the sorting and delivery of the USPS mail for all of the
buildings that fall within the 66506 ZIP code and the Jardine Apartments. On most days, our
mail load has at least tripled from what it was before we assumed delivery of all the federal
mail, so please be patient if we have any hiccups in our service. The increase in our workload,
combined with the fact that, oh yeah, by the way, we are in the middle of expanding our office
space and have worked in a construction zone for the last two months, provide greater
opportunities for errors.
Like I said earlier, we do strive to meet all of your mailing needs, and I am not making
excuses for mistakes. We do, however; ask for your patience during our transition time. Please
let us know of our errors; we will gladly work diligently to correct them.
We have hired two temporary employees to handle the brunt of the workload for Jardine
Apartments. These employees, Jay Davis and Dave Bammes, are a tremendous asset. They are
both retired USPS and many of you probably know Jay Davis from his days delivering the
federal mail on campus until his retirement from the USPS in May. They have jumped
wholeheartedly into their new roles and have even taught us tricks of the trade and more
efficient ways of processing the USPS redirect mail.
Lori Boggs, Senior Administrative Assistant, was hired in June in anticipation of the
extra mail volume. Many of you have probably already seen her, as she has been on all of our
routes and has run the accountable mail pieces to departments for signature. She has definitely
been a great addition to our team and hit the ground running…which is a really great thing,
because with her energy, she would have it no other way! We have two more positions that we
are in the process of filling and I will let you know of that outcome in our next newsletter. And
now comes the part of the newsletter where I provide some tips that you can use to hopefully
help us make your mailing and shipping experience much smoother and seamless:
Keep sending us your unwanted mail. Unwanted mail is mail received for someone who
is no longer in your department. Whenever you have a change of personnel handling the mail,
please inform them to send the unwanted mail in a campus envelope addressed “To: Address
Correction, Dept.: CMS, Building: 109 Dykstra.” Barb Larson, Address Correction Specialist,
continues to do an outstanding job trying to limit vendors from sending those magazines and
catalogs for people that have already left your department. Please include a “sticky note” with
the reason for the return (i.e., retired, no longer at the university, deceased). Please do NOT use
a black magic marker to blacken out the address, as the company needs all the information on
the mail piece. If you need to, you can put a slash through the address. Example:
From: ABC Company
To: Willie Wildcat
9999 Snyder Ln
Manhattan, KS 66506
Please remind appropriate office staff the correct updates for campus and federal mail.
Return the mail that you receive for people who have retired or have moved out of the area, so
that we can send notifications to the company, which in turn should eliminate receiving that
mail any longer. Even if people have moved to another department within K-State, please let the
company or our Address Correction Specialist know this, so that the recipient can receive their
mail in a timely manner. On that same note, if your office has moved into a different building in
the past and you still receive mailings at the old address, please let the company know of your
new address (for instance, we get mail addressed to Willard Hall for a department that was
relocated to a different building years ago.) Everything we can do in order to alleviate time
delays will save everyone time in the long run, so please help out however you can! Thank you
for your assistance in this matter and if you have any questions about this, please call or e-mail
me.
We would again like to remind all K-State students, staff, and faculty to please not have
their personal mail sent to their department address, in accordance with PPM Chapter 7825. We
are K-State employees, whose primary duty is to deliver University business related mail.
Please ensure all of your outgoing campus mail is addressed properly. For example:
From:__CMS or Jay Henning__ (put either your department or name in this block)
To:____Donna Warren________ (name of the recipient of the campus mail)
Dept: ___Contract Post Office__ (put the name of department the recipient works in)
Bldg: __113 Dykstra Hall______ (the room number and building name go in this space)
If you have employees located in other buildings, please give Central Mail Services a
heads-up before forwarding this through campus mail. Like I said earlier, we strive to ensure the
best delivery we can and when we see something that reads Philosophy (which our Mail
Specialists know to deliver to Dickens Hall), but then the building line reads Bluemont (this is
just as an example), we are confused as to where to deliver it, which can cause a delay in its
delivery. If we know people are in different buildings than the rest of their department, we can
put exceptions into our database so that when we look up people that have seemingly
conflicting information we can understand why.
Last but not least, we would like everyone to know any mail heading to Olathe campus
requires postage. Prepare Olathe mail just as you would any other outgoing mail that requires
metered postage. There is no system set in place nor is there enough mail volume heading to
Olathe at this time, to justify sending this through UPS, like we do with the Salina campus and
Topeka.
Jay M. Henning
Administrative Officer
Central Mail Services
Kansas State University
Phone: 2-7751
e-mail: jayh@ksu.edu
New Postage Stamps for Sale
Send a Hello (Forever®)
These Mail a Smile stamps feature beloved characters from five Disney Pixar movies:
- A Bug's Life (1998)
- Toy Story 2 (1999)
- Monsters, Inc. (2001)
- Finding Nemo (2003)
- The Incredibles (2004).
This stamp sheet is a follow-up to the Send a Hello (Forever®) stamps, a 2011 issuance
featuring Disney Pixar characters that grew out of the Art of Disney series issued from 2004
through 2008. From monsters, fish, and ants to toys and superheroes, Disney Pixar characters
have brought heart and humor to our lives for over 25 years.
Since 1995, Pixar Animation Studios has won 29 Academy Awards. Responsible for almost
every major breakthrough in computer animation, the company continues to reset the bar in
technology with every film.
The Mail a Smile stamps are being issued as self-adhesive Forever® stamps, which are always
equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.
Celebrate Scouting (Forever®)
With the Celebrate Scouting (Forever®) stamp, the U.S. Postal Service honors scouting
organizations for the opportunities they provide for millions of youths.
A “sister” stamp to the 2010 Scouting stamp which featured a boy scout, the 2012 Celebrate
Scouting (Forever®) stamp also reminds us that girls were not always included in the scouting
movement.
Bicycling (Forever®)
Rendered in graphic retro fashion, these U.S. Postal Service Bicycling (Forever®) stamps
celebrate the American love of bicycling, one of the most popular outdoor activities in the
country.
Remember the day you learned to ride a bike? That exhilarating sense of freedom is one you
never forget and can easily recapture every time you hop on a bike. Perhaps that's why millions
of Americans young and old enjoy bicycling so much.
But bicycling isn't just fun. It's also good for the environment and for you. Each ride you take
cuts down on traffic congestion, fuel consumption, and vehicle emissions. And riding a bike
lowers the risk of obesity, heart disease, and breast cancer, while reducing stress and improving
muscle tone and strength.
So climb on! And be the first to help us celebrate this healthy, affordable, and eco-friendly
means of transportation with these striking Bicycling stamps.
Made in the USA.
The best of baseball on stamps
The four players honored on these stamps capture our imagination for their exploits and for
what they symbolize—the best of baseball. In 2012, the Postal Service salutes Joe DiMaggio,
Larry Doby, Willie Stargell, and Ted Williams. Each of these Hall of Famers was a perennial
All-Star selection and each left an indelible impression on the game.
Ted Williams (1918-2002) of the Boston Red Sox was the last Major League player to bat over
.400 for a single season (1941). During his stellar career, he won six American League batting
titles and four home run titles. Today, “the Kid” is regarded as one of the all-time greatest
hitters in Major League Baseball history.
Larry Doby (1923-2003) was the first African American to play in the American League,
joining the Cleveland Indians shortly after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the
National League. He faced prejudice with dignity and courage.
Willie Stargell (1940-2001) powered the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, a multicultural team known
as “The Family,” to a World Series title. He is also remembered for promoting harmony
between players from different backgrounds.
Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999) led the New York Yankees to ten pennants and nine World Series
titles. Many consider him the greatest all-around player of his time.