US Postal Service Story

[Steven_S_Prevette@rl.gov]

This story, which is happening to me, sounds vaguely familiar to one of Dr.
Deming's stories.

Over the past few months, especially on Saturdays, I seem to have been
getting mis-directed mail.  My street address is 4214 Hilltop Dr., and I
would get mail addressed to 4314 Hilltop, or 4214 Desert Plateau, or other
strange combinations intermixed with my mail.  I also have been noting some
missing magazines from subscriptions.

So I called the Post Office number in the phone book.  Of course, it does
not go to my local post office, but to an 800 central number.  I described
what was going on, pointing out the connection to Saturdays.   The message
taker asked if I wanted a phone call from the Post Office, and I said yes.
Never did receive one.

A few days later, I got one of those post cards in my box to verify who
lives at 4214 Hilltop Dr.  I filled it out.  Yesterday, I went to pick up my
mail, and noticed the following note has been taped to the inside of my
mailbox:

"4214 - Prevette only"

Hmmm.  Quite the masterful system fix?  Doesn't it make you all want to run
out and have a similar assertion placed in your mailbox?  And for this we
are getting a rate increase?

Steve Prevette
Site Technical Authority for Statistical Trending
Environment, Safety and Health
Fluor Hanford, A Fluor Global Services Company
ASQ Certified Quality Engineer
steven_s_prevette@rl.gov
509-373-9371