U.S. Postal Service response to logistics disruptions resulting from terrorism : its effectiveness and relevance to other organizations

Following the incidents of 9/11, the FAA imposed new restrictions on cargo to be carried aboard commercial aircraft. This had broad and immediate impact on the U.S. Postal Service, which has long depended on such flights to carry mail, particularly expedited services such as Priority and Express Mail. In fact, the USPS normally utilizes over 15,000 commercial flights daily to transport approximately one quarter of the daily mail volume-over 170 million pieces. In less than 3 hours on that September 11 in 2001, more than 4,500 commercial flights were landed immediately regardless of where they were or where they were headed. It was two days before mail began to move again aboard commercial aircraft, and restrictions persist 18 months later, including one prohibiting any mail weighing in excess of 16 ounces. It is this restriction in particular that most drastically affected movement of the mail. There are many measures that the USPS has identified and/or undertaken since the onset of the aforementioned situations. Some of these measures were permanent and some temporary. While the USPS is different in some respects from other businesses or organizations in general, there are certainly many parallels as well. In lights of this, there may be valuable lessons to be learned from the experiences and actions of the U.S. Postal Service. By studying these actions--and determining their effectiveness in terms of delivery standards, financial impact, and effect on short and long-term strategy--other organizations may ultimately save themselves time and money by following the example of the USPS.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2003

Author dc:creator

• Hamel, Christopher J. (Christopher John), 1962-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Yossi Sheffi.

• Engineering Systems Division.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/27514

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/27514