Where's The Pallet?

Lakeland Downtown Station Manager Customer Service

Ken Batastini (left) and  Full Time Clerk Tom Palmer stand

near a stack of pallets.

Pallets are part of the Postal Service's valuable Mail Transportation Equipment (MTE) and the cost of replacing MTE inventories amounts to nearly $50 million each year. The greatest expense is for pallets.

Recently Lakeland Downtown Station Regular Full Time Clerk Tom Palmer was delivering Express Mail when he noticed a large amount of USPS pallets stacked at a pallet company in Lakeland.  When Tom returned to the Post Office he notified his manager, Ken Batastini.

Ken contacted the Inspection Service to inform them about the valuable equipment at a pallet retailer.  Ken and an inspector visited the pallet company and verified that the pallets Tom saw were USPS equipment. 

The company's management agreed to pull all of the USPS pallets, stack them neatly and assist with loading them on the USPS truck.  When the pallets were loaded the total count came to 124.

Thanks to Tom's keen eyes and Ken's quick action, all 124 pallets were transported to the Tampa P&DC.

The Postal Service continues to search inside its network and beyond for MTE.  Plant employees can do their part by collecting all MTE in each facility, stacking and organizing it to prepare for use or to provide to customers. Spot checks often can help uncover stockpiles of unused equipment.  Any excess MTE must be returned to the Mail Transport Equipment Service Center.

USPS encourages employees to report MTE that is being misused, staged unnecessarily or located outside the postal network.

If any Post Office is having difficulty getting pallets and other MTE returned to a plant for any reason, the MTE hotline can help. Call 866-330-3404 or send an email to HQMTE@usps.gov.

Thank you, Tom, for being on the lookout for Postal Service equipment!

Thank you, Ken, for your quick action in making sure the euipment was returned home!