The Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Fleet Logistics Center Yokosuka (FLCY) Joint Personal Property Shipping Office (JPPSO) held a 2019 pre-peak season meeting on April 5 in advance of the upcoming moving season which begins in June.

Attendees at the annual meeting, which was themed “Teamwork –Working Together to Improve Customer Satisfaction,” included local moving companies from mainland and Okinawa, Japan and the personal property processing offices from U.S. Navy, Army and Marine Corps sites that fall under the JPPSO Japan area of responsibility.

Capt. Frank E. Nevarez, FLCY Commanding Officer, kicked off the meeting. He emphasized the importance of the teamwork to improve customer satisfaction.

“I need the JPPSO and local agents to think of yourself as one team and that your team is a valued part of the greater FLCY team,” said Nevarez. “The team helps uphold the quality-of-life for our service members and helps them maintain a sense of home.”

Peak season runs from May through August. More than 25,000 shipments are handled in a given year. Over half of those moves will occur in the summer during peak season.

According to JPPSO Japan Director and Regional Personal Property Manager Percival Octavo, Defense Personal Property Program (DP3) initiatives are being implemented to improve this year’s peak moving season. 

“There were some new initiatives being developed by United States Transportation Command to smooth out the peak season workload and create more predictability throughout the calendar year,” said Octavo. “They will also be rolling out a new and improved customer support center in May, which will provide twenty-four hour customer service.”

Transit times for continental United States (CONUS) shipments have increased this year. An expanded DP3 education campaign, claims reduction process and use of containers for CONUS shipments are part of the larger initiative to improve customer service and support across the Department of Defense. An online customer satisfaction survey will be available for families and members to provide more transparency with regards to the scores of moving companies handling their household goods (HHG) and allow them to provide feedback about their move. The JPPSO team will also increase physical quality control (QC) inspections of all HHG by fifty percent and have more QC inspectors on site during the packing, pick-up and delivery process.

Nevarez said the effort to increase inspections will have a rippling effect and ensure the organization provides a high-level of customer service.

“We're mandated to perform physical inspections on fifty percent of all our moves,” said Nevarez. “It’s important we continue to communicate our expectations to our local agents and ultimately hold them accountable if standards are not met. We also need to make sure our transportation service providers are meeting their responsibilities spelled out in the Customer Bill of Rights and, if not, communicating back to them any shortcomings.”

The pre-peak season meeting is an annual event for the JPPSO Japan team, which will conduct a post-peak season meeting later this year. It is part of a larger initiative by the Department of Defense to improve the quality of HHG moves, particularly during peak season. By bringing all the players to the table, the hope is that it will help eliminate fragmentation of operations, increase accountability of service providers, and create some long-term positive effects in the permanent change of station process for Sailors and their families.

NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka is one of eight FLCs under Commander, NAVSUP. Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and employing a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel, NAVSUP's mission is to provide supplies, services, and quality-of-life support to the Navy and joint warfighter. Learn more at www.navsup.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/navsup and https://twitter.com/navsupsyscom.

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