Jason Miles, who arrived at the Palisades post office more than a year ago to address an accumulation of service concerns within the community, became postmaster on December 23. At age 33, he’s one of the youngest employees to hold this managerial position in L.A. Confident that ‘service has improved tremendously in Pacific Palisades,’ Miles reflected last Friday on some of the issues he resolved, from delayed mail processing at the La Cruz station to late mail delivery. ‘People were sick and tired of crappy service,’ Miles admitted, recalling the ‘challenging and hostile situation’ he walked into in January 2006 when he replaced Rochelle Willis as officer in charge at the Palisades Post Office. Willis had served in the position for just one week following Sheryl Gardiner’s departure. Having previously worked in the Bel-Air/Brentwood area, which had concerns like those in the Palisades, Miles quickly identified the root of problems here: namely, that the mail carriers needed support and direction. ‘They were out until 8:30/9 p.m. at night,’ Miles told the Palisadian-Post soon after he started working here. ‘Not only is it poor service, but it can lead to more injuries.’ He talked to his 39 carriers about their concerns and needs, helped them set goals, and assigned them times to report to the office. Their main concern was mail flow, meaning that they felt they weren’t receiving their mail on time from the clerks, who sort mail by delivery routes (the carriers then sort the mail by address before delivering it). To remedy the situation, Miles hired a third supervisor, Myron Kudanovyvh, who he had worked with at the Culver City post office, to move the mail through the La Cruz office more quickly. ‘I make sure we have mail flow from the clerks to the carriers, as fast as the carriers can handle it,’ said Kudanovych, who arrives at about 5 a.m. to oversee this process. ‘This office gets more mail per route than I’ve ever seen in L.A.’ Miles confirmed that the Palisades has ‘the highest volume of mail in the L.A. Basin.’ He currently manages about 15 clerks, including those at both the Sunset and La Cruz offices. He has 43 carriers, but 12 of them are injured, meaning that they cannot carry/deliver mail. The healthy carriers have had to cover for them, delivering their routes. ‘They [the healthy carriers] are as frustrated as I am regarding the number of employees who are incapacitated for one reason or another,’ Miles said, adding that he is ‘still working on injury compensation issues’ from last year. ‘I am constantly reiterating the importance of safety to my staff,’ Miles continued. ‘We conduct weekly and monthly meetings with all employees, addressing safe working practices. I personally visit my employees while they are delivering mail on the street to ensure that they are conducting the duties in a safe manner.’ Miles has focused this year on assigning his injured carriers to ‘productive’ alternative jobs within the post office, such as answering queries at the window or helping move the mail from clerks to carriers. If they say they can’t do anything, he tells them to go home. While most of the improvements have been internal, Miles acknowledged that the communication between the Palisades post office and the Los Angeles Processing and Distribution Center has improved, as has the timeliness of mail arriving at the La Cruz station. As a reflection of improved service and performance, complaints by Palisades residents have ‘declined substantially,’ Miles said. The service issues that are still causing some concern have to do with mail being forwarded to the wrong address (because ‘change of address’ forms are filled out incorrectly) or mail that is unable to be delivered because someone’s mailbox is blocked (by a truck, etc.). Miles encouraged local customers to contact him with any questions or concerns between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at (310) 454-9904 or (310) 454-5999.
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