Information Technology

NOTICE

FAST National Deployment Complete

The Facility Accessibility and Shipment Tracking (FAST) system is now managing drop shipments at 800 facilities throughout the country. On November 21, 2005, the Southeast Area, the last deployment group, began receiving appointments in FAST. The deployment was successful and occurred on schedule with the exception of the Louisiana District, which was impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Louisiana facilities were rescheduled and will be available to accept drop shipments beginning December 1, 2005.

For a schedule of all facilities in FAST, go to RIBBS at http://ribbs.usps.gov.

Enhancements

On November 20, we added enhancements to the FAST system. Speedline appointments can only be made for 24 pallets or fewer. When PostalOne! authentication services are unavailable, users are notified by an error message displayed on the logon page. Users are now able to search by recurring appointment ID on the appointment status report.

For a complete version of the November 20 release notes, go to RIBBS at http://ribbs.usps.gov.

Pallet Barcode Validation Process

A new pallet barcode is available for customer use. In order for a customer to use the barcode, the customer must first meet the Postal Service'sTM mailer placard barcode specifications. Customers should send to the Postal Service via e-mail 10 unique barcode samples in PDF format to fastwebservice@usps.com.

The Postal Service will then test the barcodes to determine if they are recognized by the the surface visibility application and the Motorola utility manager. Once the Postal Service validates the barcodes, customers can begin placing the barcodes on drop shipments to be scanned by Postal Service facilities.

Register for FAST

It is not too late to register for FAST. To schedule drop shipments, a customer must register for a FAST ID through PostalOne! at www.usps.com/postalone. Those customers who already have a PostalOne! account and also need access to FAST must register by calling the PostalOne! Customer Care Center at 800-522-9085. Detailed instructions on the FAST/PostalOne! registration process are available on RIBBS. Only users with FAST scheduler IDs will be allowed to make appointments at drop shipment facilities.

Questions

Send your questions via e-mail to FAST@USPS.com or telephone the Postal Service help desk at 800-877-7435 and say "FAST."

— Logistics Systems,
Operations, 11-24-05