ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 28, 1990                   TAG: 9007280294
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short


POSTAL AREAS REDUCED FOR SINGLE-DAY DELIVERY

To match lower expectations from its customers, the Postal Service today will reduce the amount of mail it will deliver within one day.

Starting today, the portion of mail designated for overnight delivery will drop from 55.5 percent to 50.7 percent.

From Roanoke, the post office now will take two days instead of one to deliver mail to several points in Northern Virginia and West Virginia.

Mail to Lewisburg and Martinsburg, W.Va., and to Winchester and Culpeper will be scheduled for delivery within two days, said Sam Dowdy, a spokesman for the Roanoke Post Office.

The Postal Service still expects to provide one-day delivery to Richmond, Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Bristol and Bluefield, Dowdy said.

The changes are a result of customer reaction, he said. In some cases, deliveries have not always been made overnight as scheduled.

Some changes in transportation schedules have been made to be consistent, he added.

In extending some delivery by a day, Anthony Frank, postmaster general, said the agency is tightening up areas scheduled for regular overnight delivery to provide what it hopes will be more consistent service nationwide.

Dowdy said the change affects about 4.5 percent of the national mail volume and a smaller portion of mail in the Roanoke area.



 by CNB