Here's one of the benefits of Section 508.  this 24 hour seven day a week
automatic postal clerk offers great reach ranges for those with mobility
impairments and has voice prompts for the blind, just like a talking ATM.

Kelly

The Southern Illinoisan
Tuesday, July 27, 2004


ROBOCLERK: AUTOMATED POSTAL CENTER ADDS CONVENIENCE FOR CUSTOMERS

    BY LINDA RUSH THE SOUTHERN

    CARBONDALE -- Just think of it as RoboClerk.

    The big, blue computerized machine in the lobby of the main Carbondale
Post Office on East Main Street can sell you stamps, spit out an elusive
ZIP code, weigh packages and print out the postage and labels, even cough
up the forms for sending packages by priority or express mail.

    The U.S. Postal Service developed the Automated Postal Center or APC
with the help of IBM and Pitney Bowes. Carbondale is the only area post
office with the machine.

    It spells convenience for many customers, said Dan Finnegan, customer
service director at the post office. "Many of our customers have
complained that they want to mail packages on Sundays or at night." Though
there also is a coin-operated machine in the lobby that sells stamps,
there was no way to obtain the other services after hours until APC
arrived.

    Jennifer Mueller-Forman of Carbondale, who was using the APC last week
"to mail off my dissertation and job applications," said she has used the
machine "a lot." She finds it "easier, faster and more convenient -- it's
open at all hours." She is completing an internship in counseling
psychology at SIUC for her degree from the University of North Dakota and
finds herself mailing plenty of resumes.

    Jessica Carrillo, who is finishing her degree at SIUC, and her fiance,
J.L. Miranda, were mailing packages and extra-postage letters and agreed
to give the machine a whirl. It obligingly printed out and gave them exact
postage labels for the fat envelope and package.

    "You can't get insurance on packages or send registered mail with the
machine," Finnegan said, adding that's about all you can't do with the
device, which was installed on June 14.

    And mailing packages to foreign countries -- which requires customs
declarations -- still requires a face-to-face transaction. Nor does the
machine issue passports or sell money orders.

    There's one other thing you can't do with the APC -- pay cash. The
machine only accepts credit or debit cards.

    "There are a couple of reasons for that," Finnegan said. "First, it
eliminates the machinery that breaks down in coin-operated machines.
Second, it captures credit card information for those using it."

    Those preparing to mail a package should be prepared to answer on the
computer screen whether their package contains explosives, poisonous
snakes or other categories of forbidden merchandise. Packages can be
traced to the sender via the credit card information.

    The machine is based on an ATM machine, Finnegan said. "It's the same
technology our customers trust with their bank accounts."

    There are some differences with the machine. It gives out books of 18
stamps, rather than the 20 stamps you buy in books from real-life clerks.
There's a reason for that, Finnegan said. "The books of stamps are the
same size as a dollar bill," which works with the ATM-based technology.

    The machine is designed to be accessible to customers in wheelchairs.
For visually impaired customers, it includes an earphone jack and audio
prompts that make it compatible with standards for handicapped
accessibility.

    The computer screen is designed to be user-friendly, too, "simple
choices to lead you through each transaction," Finnegan said. And it will
total up your bill for all services, and let you settle with one quick
swipe of credit or debit card, rather than requiring separate payment for
each transaction.

    There's even a "back" button that can be used if the customer
accidentally selects Express Mail instead of Priority Mail, for instance.

    Whenever possible, Finnegan said, an employee is posted in the lobby
near the machine to answer any customer questions. A motion sensor in the
lobby activates a computer voice urging customers to check out the new
machine.

    "More people are using it," Finnegan said. "It's right on the money,
not cheating anyone out of stamps." In the month it's been operating in
Carbondale, the only glitches have been "a couple of brief shutdowns" of
the computer. "It's not totally infallible, but so far it's great."

    The Postal Service has been testing APC prototypes for more than four
years.

    The APCs are expected to cut costs of transactions, but it's unlikely
they'll ever be put into use at smaller post offices. And Finnegan said
they aren't designed to replace human postal staffers.

    "It's a convenience. It won't go into the small post offices," he
said, "It will reduce customers' waiting time in peak periods. Nobody will
lose their job over this."

    By expanding the hours for transactions, he said, it can help the
postal service be more competitive and attract customers.

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