Thursday, September 22, 2011

Bad Customer Service Is Built into the Design of U.S. Post Offices, Report Says

Have you ever stood in a long, slow-moving line at a post office and wondered why only one employee was helping customers?

The problem is the way the traditional U.S. post office is structured, with delivery and retail operations in the same building, according to an Inspector General’s report released today. It’s high time to separate those functions in many urban and suburban areas, says the report, entitled “Retail and Delivery: Decoupling Could Improve Service and Lower Costs.”

“Unlike most retail stores in the private sector where employees are called up from the back office when lines are long to serve the customer, the focus in Postal Service shared facilities is the exact opposite. A clerk’s first priority is often back room operational support activities — even if that means a retail customer waits longer in line.”

Managers of a typical post office “primarily focus on delivery performance and cost control over providing retail service or promoting revenue generation. In fact, their performance evaluations often guide them to focus on meeting delivery cost and service goals to the exclusion of retail service or revenue generation goals. “

“There is no inherent business need to have retail co-located with delivery. If reasonably increased workforce flexibility is allowed (by allowing some retail clerks to work a half day, for example), the business need for coupling could effectively disappear. The recently approved contract with the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) introduced new scheduling flexibility for career employees that might support this change.”

Twice as many U.S. postal facilities have both delivery and retail operations than have only retail operations, the report says. By contrast, private delivery companies and the best foreign postal services put delivery operations in commercial areas near major transportation hubs and retail operations close to where customers live and work.

Retail and delivery have been coupled in U.S. post offices for 150 years, the report says, but that model no longer makes sense in densely populated areas, according to the report.

“Carriers once spent more than half of their day manually sorting mail at the local carrier office before delivering it, but now devote slightly more than two hours per day to this function.”

“With carriers spending less time in the office, more mail can be delivered by each carrier and there is less need for letter carriers in each facility. With fewer carriers and the removal of local sorting equipment, there is idle floor space in facilities and less need for carrier vehicle parking.”

“The Postal Service could consolidate two nearby postal facilities into a single carrier-only facility and relocate it to a lower-cost facility with better connections to transportation links. This would produce savings by reducing both facility and transportation costs and by designing a space geared specifically toward efficient delivery operations.”

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Service is just a word in the Post Office. When standing inline for 2 hours because one clerk is working, while 4 supervisors lounge in the back.. Waiting til 5-8pm for a Wall Street Journal because the District mmanager doesn't want to call in a carrier to carry the routes that are down. Because you got those "Sale" flyers AFTER the sale date, because management didn't want to pay to have them delivered...

Unforgiven said...

There is however a problem with carriers spending more time on the street that is seldom addressed by anyone who has never carried mail. There are more injuries and increased wear and tear on the body of a carrier. Just the difference between 6 and 7 hours of street time increases the frequency of injuries and the severity of wear and tear to the body. Unfortunately postal management is incapable of understanding that while you can run your route for maybe 4 or 5 hours, you can't do it for 7 or 8 hours a day. You will not and cannot expect the same level of efficiency during 8 hours of street time, that you can expect out of 4 to 6 hours of street time, especially in inclement weather or hostile environment.

Drewk86a said...

When was this study done? The information is either incorrect or outdated!

Clerk's first priority is in the back? Clerks do not make decisions on whther or not to staff the retail window. Supervisors make those calls.

“With fewer carriers and the removal of local sorting equipment, there is idle floor space" Very few carrier offices have sorting equipmentwhat does this have to do with the retail window?

The Postal Service could consolidate two nearby postal facilities into a single carrier-only facility" The USPS is already doing this. It is called Delivery Unit Optimization (DUO).

rt3330 said...

I have to deliver a letter to you and get a signature. You are not home, I leave a notice, you happen to need stamps and have to mail some packages, so you decide to kill 2 birds with one stone same. Now you have to go to 2 different locations. One to the carrier annex to get you letter,, then downtown to the retail center to buy your stamps and mail some packages

metoo8 said...

who wrote this story because that's what it is a story....made up. makes no sense whatsoever. obviously someone with no knowledge of how a post office works.

Anonymous said...

Supervisors lounging in the back? First the union would freak of the supervisor did a job assigned to a clerk, 2nd the supervisors are busily completing one of the hundreds of reports required of them.

Northlander said...

With lines all the way to the door you just now know that customer service is poor?

Anonymous said...

In my office not all clerks are trained to work at the retail counter. Secondly clerks in the back are often called to open the side/dutch door to help customers who are there just to pick up packages,letters,or other non-monetary transactions.

John said...

My comments may be a little bit away from the topic of customer service, but hits on the "design". I live in a relatively small town outside of Boston. My town is about 3 miles wide X 3 miles long. We have 6 postal regions (each with a name), all with different zip codes, and 6 post offices -- one in each section of town. Customer service is just fine, but the logistical design of these postal operations is antiquated, serves no purpose and creates extra work not only for the local USPS, but for the entire U.S. postal system. If the "system" (and I use that term loosely) is like this in many other areas around the country, it's no wonder the USPS is headed towards bankruptcy.

Anonymous said...

waiting 2 hours in line who are you kiding it never happened first of all you would leave after 10minutes. The clerks hours have been slashed so much there is not enough people to staff the bigger Post Offices those are the facts use stamps by mail if you don't want to wait in line for stamps.

Anonymous said...

I agree that whoever wrote this story is full of beans. Where did this info come from? The problems mentioned, as far as clerks and carriers go, are caused by management trying to meet certain goals to increase their bonuses. They don't care how long the lines are, revenue is not a factor in their bonuses. Work hours are. Not enough clerks to go around. Carriers can't get their mail sorted early enough, and start times are now 2-3 hours later. It's all about the work hours. Box holders were supposed to have their mail delivered by 9 am. Not enough clerks to go around. Some clerks are forced to work much less than 40 hours, not because there is a lack of work, because it reflects the boss's bonus. I could go on, but you get the picture. Place the blame where blame is due. Don't print a report fed to the media by management. Report the truth. Do your research. Interview real employees.

Anonymous said...

the OIG leaves a great deal to be desired in terms of their audits. Most of their other audits take claim for things that are common knowledge and they rarely have the ability to enforce any of their findings.

Anonymous said...

This study is totally out of touch with reality. I have to agree with one of the posts, it is all about the work hours and bonuses. Us supervisors and managers do not have time to kill time and relax. We are constantly under the pressure of doing more with less people and get everything done on time! This job is crazy! It is not only craft that has brought the PO down it is upper management asinine so called "business decisions" that have brought the Post Office service to its current state.

Anonymous said...

ridiculous work rules the unions have!!!

Anonymous said...

Unforgiven said it all. Great comments and how true! As for Anonymous claiming that "it's not just craft that has brought the p.o. down" you have got to be kidding! Thank God for craft, especially the hard working, stressed out carrier craft! Walk in our shoes and tell us we don't work our tail off in this new FSS and DPS environment! Management IS destroying us from within!

Anonymous said...

This whole story is just that..a story! The Postal Service does itself a dis-service by using the "one size fits all" philosophy. Not all offices are the same and each office should run with what works for them. I understand how the Postal Service wants uniformity but there are a lot of procedures that don't and can't apply to all offices. Instead of having outside people com in to tell us how to be more efficient, why not ask the workers and go off that? The clerk and carrier craft should not be separated. When something comes back with a notice left, are the customers supposed to go somewhere else to pick it up? And what about getting it there? More expenses would occur by just the transport. Let's just get back to the basics and deliver our mail with dignity and pride!!

Steve Riggs, Kentucky said...

End long lines? It was about two years ago the PO removed the vending machines that helped eliminate long lines. I told them they were wrong to do that. They said some of the vending machines broke down. I said get machines that don't break down. Ask Coke or Nabisco for references! They gave me a study that showed about 24% of the locations with machines did not sell enough stamps. I said they should close those locatons but not 100% of those locations. It was not very bright to remove the vending machines. Steve Riggs-Kentucky.

Customer Service Excellence said...

What they need is customer service excellence what a pity indeed

Anonymous said...

Postal service clerks greet you at the front desk of the post office & are supposed help accept packages & letters, check envelopes for appropriate postage & sell stamps. In the U.S., approx 73,000 folks do this,earning an avg annual salary of $51,560, or $24.84 an hr. In Fort Mojave, Arizona, almost as much as California teachers with masters degrees. They don't smile & do the least required. Local news is leaking after being confronted with providing the minimal amt of service, followed by the comment, "You two are so lazy," they wanted the 62 Y/O offender, a woman, with cancer, to stand outside while waiting to speak to a supervisor...in 108 degree heat. Incensed the woman decided to wait inside for supes...they called the cops to remove her." Govt can do better...

Anonymous said...

Considering what I get for the money, I have few complaints with USPS, or HAD until moving into Detroit! And in particular the Gratiot post office near Chene. I received a pink slip about an undelivered item. I scheduled delivery using the slip and online. When I still did not get me package I scheduled another redelivery and complained. Since then they have refused to deliver the package despite getting the Postmaster General's office and customer affairs involved. They have not only become defiant regarding me, but while telling customer affairs they would deliver it they did not and are being allowed to blatantly disregard their duty and superiors