USPS OIG Report: Management Advisory – Benchmarking Mail Distribution to Carriers
A few excerpts:
The Postal Service and industry carriers are similar in that individuals perform some sorting of volumes for delivery, load their own vehicles, and assume additional delivery points when a colleague is absent or mail volumes require it. However, the Postal Service is unique among the companies we visited in that carriers deliver a more varied mix of mail, including letters, flats, and parcels; and must comply with a Universal Service Obligation. If the Postal Service incorporated the assignment of some delivery unit activities to part-time employees, additional savings could be achieved.
Workforce Flexibilities
The Postal Service may have opportunities to improve operations by adopting some industry best practices for distributing mail to carriers. We noted commercial delivery businesses have staffing flexibilities, such as the ability for employees to work across craft assignments, which allow managers to more efficiently match workhours with workload and offset overtime by using more part-time employees. See Appendix B for our detailed analysis of this topic
Flexible Delivery Unit Assistants
Postal Service city delivery carriers have office time allowances built into their 8-hour days to case and prepare mail for their route. Based on workload trends, vacancies,absences, and mail volume, the carrier may perform these activities for other routes. A small percentage of delivery units use full-time carrier craft “routers” to case and prepare the mail for delivery exclusively; Postal Service management stated the use of routers is declining. Routers typically case and prepare the mail prior to the assigned carrier’s arrival; routers may or may not perform street duties later in the day, depending on need. See Appendix B for our detailed analysis of this topic.
If the Postal Service used part-time delivery unit assistants to perform most in-office work, these employees could absorb all carrier morning activities except loading and driving delivery vehicles. Having part-time employees case and prepare mail within delivery units could result in annual reduced workhour costs between $621 million and $2.3 billion and greater flexibility for the Postal Service. Additional savings could be generated from carrier route adjustments resulting in longer routes and less office time for the carriers. See Appendix C for our analysis of monetary impacts.
We recommend the vice president, Delivery and Post Office Operations:
1. Pursue a delivery unit assistant initiative to have transitional employees or part-time flexible employees perform in-office activities including casing and preparing mail for carriers.
Management disagreed with the recommendation because of the complexity of labor relations and existing contractual issues with the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC). Management further stated that the Postal Service is currently working with NALC to examine how city delivery routes might be structured in the future. The parties are working on a test that will attempt to separate the casing and delivery functions to the extent possible while operating within the current work rules.
yesterday we had an audit. XXamount of trucks no emergency brakes 4 doors not locked, buckets left in trucks, EMPTY trays left in trucks ETC….THEY actually paid some useless person who can’t find a new position who knows what outrageous amount of $$ to do this??? Talk about waste in the PO… PU!!!! put them back on the streets, and earn their $$. we carriers are the backbone if they don’t break it first.
DON’T GIVE THEM ANYMORE BRIGHT IDEAS SteveO. Today we had a talk no more leaving anything in your vehicles. Does that mean everything? accident report file , scraper? NEEDED forms?? get a grip idiots!!!
CLUELESS!! part2
Another point OIG needs to realize is the letter carrier job description as it stands is the last step that insures the quality of mail received and is the quickest and most feasible means of getting misent mail to the proper location. Why not just design a machine that puts all the patrons mail in a plastic bag and give us a bicycle!
I’m a clerk but that is the dummest idea I’v ever heard! If some part-timer will case a route, what time will they have the route up and ready? In my office even the regular carriers aren’t ready until 9:30 or 10:00. So the regular carrier starts at 9:30 and works 8 hours with a half hour lunch. That means half the year they will deliver at least 1/4 of their route in the dark which I think is very dangerous. Also they will hold up the dispatch of outgoing mail!
james gortze…your momma is my ape loving banana eater
get those monkeys on the road sooner, keep them out of dunkin donuts. sounds like a plan
Stupid idea….the post office still thinks the mail comes to us 99.9% correct…..WRONG…..someone that does not know the route casing will just cause me mucho longer hours on the street to get it right…..you cannot just walk in and case AND expect it to be correct. Pure bullshit……..
THIS is what these people DO….
THIS is WHY we have UNIONS to represent us and to SPEAK FOR US when
BOZOs like the OIG and SENIOR MANAGEMENT come up with hair brain ideas
like THIS.
This is the stupidest f$#king thing I’ve ever heard.
This is Alice in wonderland. Eliminating Sat. delivery is the sensible way. The O ligraphy I nepts G uise would not have to make it apparent they are ignorant of the issue at hand by employing UPS METHODS TO GIVE CARRIER MORE STREET TIME, ADD DELIVERIES AND ELIMINATE ROUTES.
If want to emulate UPS & FED X delivery only what a PREMIUM HAS BEEN PAID FOR NEXT DAY WEEKEND DELIVERY: with USPS this is EXPRESS and PRIORITY 2 DAY. . The INTERNET now exist and written personal communication and business is processed through an E MAIL address and not a mailbox at a physical street address. PRC, BOARD OF GOVERNORS, CONGRESS, OIG need to deal with the present day use of Postal Services which are in a decline which creates revenue decline. USPS spends more money daily than it takes in, Feb. 2011 the USPS lost a billion dollars in 28 days. Who is going to cover the continuing USPS losses as the government has a problem in funding itself. An increase of 1 penny a gallon in fuel,the cost USPS a million dollars. IDLING 193,000 VEHICLES ON SAT. AND ELIMINATING SAT.
DELIVERY PERSONNEL COST IS A GALLANT EFFORT TO TO GIVE THE USPS A SOUND FOOTING TO A BREAKEVEN POINT AND REDUCE THE CONTINOUS FINANCIAL DEFEICT.
A financial buyout back to age 50 with 25 years service with a 1% penalty under 55 yrs. of age, Eliminating numbers to restructure 5 day deliver and employ automation to fullest extent would be a benefactor in monetary saving and cost efficient operations.
CLUELESS!!! Can we get these people in the OIG to spend 2 or 3 days delivering mail on foot for 8 hours. What’s the difference what carrier work the part time carriers are doing if the pay is the same. My guess is that this is just another “snake in the grass” way of creating a 2 tier wage system.
About 10 years ago we had routers who came in early to case up 6 routes a day . They were lucky if they got 2 cased . Then went out on the street to deliver . V time out the ass !!!!!!!!!!! So do we still have them ? It didn’t work 10 years ago . That dumb ass idea lasted about a year . It came to a real quick stop when carriers were making more than the postmaster !!!!!!!!!!!!
Just how old are these booksmart know it alls in the oig? Have they no respect for the people who actually do the job. Don’t they know that for over 200 years the job got done without them and their goofey penny foolish ideas? …you wanna streamline something….go streamline the DOJ and the IRS.
Let’s see how long the new people last if they do a walking route on a Monday and the route has hills. Turn over will be like UPS 40-50%. Talk about delaying the mail.
i SAW THIS ONE COMING.. THEY HAVE TO HAVE SOMEWHERE FOR THE SUPERVISORS TO GO THAT LOSE THEIR JOBS AT OFFICES THAT ARE CLOSED. OUR POSTMASTER IS ALREADY CASING OUR AUX ROUTE NEARLY EVERYDAY, MIGHT AS WELL CASE THE REST OF THE ROUTES TOO.
Kathy’s got my vote!
I say kathy for nalc prez
Actually, I would enjoy never having to see a supervisor during my eight hour shift. Put me out on the street and i will leave messages for the router to update the casing. That’s all
Let me see if I got this right. They think it would be more efficient for the regular carriers to work 8 hours humping snowbanks when it’s 30 below instead of the 6 hours we do it now? We are talking extremely horrid weather conditions six months out of the year for us up here in the north. In addition, many carriers are in their 50’s and even 60’s. Did anyone even consider the increase in “on the job” injuries? Maybe those think tank “desk” jockeys should get out and try some of the changes themselves before they recommend them for others.
SO YOU THINK SOMEONE WHO HAS NOT BEEN CASING A ROUTE EVER IS GOING TO COME ON IN AND CASE UP MY ROUTE EVERYDAY ,NOT KNOWING ABOUT THE FORWARDS ,OR THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE PASSED AWAY YEARS AGO STILL GETTING MAIL ,,OR HOW GRANDMA JONES STILL HAS HER MAIL ADDRESSED TO ROUTE #2 BOX 74 EVEN THO THAT SYSTEM WAS ABOLISHED YEARS AGO …WELL I KNOW WHERE THAT MAIL GOES WILL THIS PART TIMER KNOW?? AND WHEN THEY MISCASE THE MAIL DOES THIS MEAN I SIT OUT THERE ON THE STREET CHECKING EVERY PIECE OR JUST DELIVER IT ALL AND THEN I GET TO LISTEN TO MY CUSTOMERS COMPLAIN TO ME ?ALSO HOW WILL THEY MARK THE PARCELS ?OR ACCOUTABLES OR WILL I STILL DO THIS ..AND I CASE ONE WAY AND THE NEXT GUY CASES A DIFFERENT WAY THIS WILL BE A MESS AND THOSE 8 HOURS ON THE STREET WILL TURN INTO 12 HOURS ON THE STREET …
YOU CONTINUE TO COMPARE THE POSTAL SERVICE WITH UPS ???I DONT GET THAT ITS TWO COMPLETLY DIFFERNT JOBS
SURE IF ALL I HAD EVERY DAY WERE PARCELS I COULD LOAD THOSE AND GO ALSO ,,BUT I DONT HAVE JUST PARCELS I HAVE LETTERS,MAGAZINES,ACCOUNTABLES LIKE EXPRESS MAIL (THAT MUST BE DELIVERED BY NOON),CERTIFIEDS,AND PARCELS AND A COUPLE EXTRA FULL COVERAGE AD,S TO GO WITH ALL THAT..
STOP TRYING TO ACT LIKE WE ARE UPS OR FED-EX WE ARE NOT IN FACT BEFORE YOU TELL US HOW TO CASE AND DELIVER OUR MAIL WHY DONT YOU TRY DOING IT FOR A MONTH IN ARIZONA IN THE SUMMER TIME OUT ON THE STREET FOR 8 HOURS IN 120DEGREE WEATHER??
OR TRY LETS JUST SAY MINNESOTA IN THE WINTER 8 HOURS ON THE STREET IN OH SAY 5 FEET OF SNOW???THEN TELL US HOW WE ARE DOING IT ALL WRONG …
I SAY MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS AND LET US DELIVER THE MAIL LIKE WE KNOW HOW TO DO IT .AND CUT OUT THE LAYERS OF MANAGEMENT THAT WE DO NOT NEED AT ALL.