(The following report has been submitted to the Presidential Postal Commission)

Date: March 7, 2003

To: Harry Pearce, Co-Chairman

President’s Commission on the U.S. Postal Service

U.S.P.S. Employee Operational Analysis:

Challenges and Opportunities

Submitted By: Mark Weiss

U.S.P.S. Manager, Customer Service,

Central Point, Oregon

"The work environment has deteriorated and morale within the USPS is at an all time low. Unless significant changes are made in the immediate future, the USPS will continue its downward spiral, losing market share and key personnel. At risk is our universal service to the American public. We need help now."

Mark Weiss

BACKGROUND: The enclosed report was produced by 20 current USPS Management employees. All challenges and recommendations herein were unanimously agreed upon.

INTRODUCTION: We believe the United States Postal Service stands at a crossroad in its history. Although much competition is coming from outside sources such as Internet transactions and email, there is a greater danger from long-standing, outdated, non-functioning practices used by the USPS. These non-functioning practices have deteriorated the work environment. Without necessary changes now, key personnel will continue to leave at an increasing rate, jeopardizing the future of universal service in the United States. It is our belief that the commission can use the information contained herein as a tool when reviewing the mission and vision statement but more importantly the practices of the Postal Service, and to help implement changes for the future.

A brain storming session amongst Oregon Postmasters, Supervisors and Managers was the impetus for this report. What came from the session was a list of fourteen serious challenges and proposed solutions that make up this Operational Analysis. If implemented, we believe these recommendations would help the USPS to meet its goals of providing prompt, reliable and efficient service.

This Operational Analysis is based on interviews with Postmasters, Managers and Supervisors within the USPS. All of the employees, who participated in this report, work in Customer Service Operations and deal with the general public on a daily basis. They have a combined 192 years of work experience as craft employees, and 269 years experience as Postmasters, Managers or Supervisors. (See Exhibit ‘A’)

Each individual interviewed was asked to rank each suggested operational change according to the degree of beneficial impact. The fourteen suggested operational changes are listed on a priority basis.

The following pages contain an explanation of the existing conditions and the suggestions for change. At the end of the report you will find the questionnaire and will be able to see how each individual ranked each suggestion. A list of names, addresses, and phone numbers is also provided.

We respectfully submit this report and will be available to answer any questions that the commission may have.

Mark Weiss

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary

List of Recommendations

Recommendations / Solutions

Signatures of Individuals Reviewing Report

Exhibit ‘A’ (Background of Employees Interviewed)

Exhibit ‘B’ (Interview Data)

Exhibit ‘C’ (Analysis of Interviews)

Exhibit ‘D’ (Name, Title and Address of those Interviewed)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CULTURE: The culture in which the Postmasters, Managers and Supervisors interviewed work in has changed drastically within the recent history of the USPS. The cultural changes have caused the USPS to have difficulties promoting Supervisors within its ranks and keeping those who have been promoted in the management ranks. The changes have come from pressures of the bargaining unit agreements, which date back to the 1970’s, to wholesale operational changes resulting from declining revenues, beginning in the mid to late 1990’s. This report lists the fourteen most important changes needed to change the present direction of the culture in the USPS.

CONTRIBUTORS: This report is based on the interviews of twenty employees currently working as Supervisors, Managers and Postmasters in the USPS. The level 24 Postmasters have responsibility for operations with hundreds of employees that service approximately 50,000 deliveries daily. The level 18 Postmasters have five to ten employees who service areas with approximately 1000 to 3000 deliveries or box customers daily.

The Managers interviewed have responsibilities for Stations under Postmasters level 20 to 24 with responsibility over 20 to 50 employees and 10,000 or more daily deliveries. The Supervisors interviewed work in various positions in Customer Services. They directly supervise an average group of twenty to thirty employees.

REPORT PROCESS: All of the interviews and work on this report was done after normal working hours. The ideas came from brainstorming with six of the people interviewed followed by interviews of the other fourteen. After defining the ideas, all twenty of the individuals were asked to rate the suggestions on a point basis. The points were based on how important the idea if implemented would be in meeting the mission of the USPS to provide prompt, reliable and efficient service. The individuals then ranked the ideas in order of most important. (Exhibit ‘B’)

Once the report was written, it was reviewed by ten of the individuals interviewed. The accuracy of the information contained in this final report was agreed upon by all of the ten. If one of the ten individuals did not agree that the information was completely accurate, that information was edited out of the final report.

Each of the fourteen ideas is listed on the following page in order of importance.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Replace Existing Bargaining Unit Agreement

2. Evaluated Route System for City Carriers

3. Make Grievance Activity in a Non-Pay Status

4. Authority to Hire from an Approved Complement

5. Streamline Authority

6. Incentive Systems to Save Sick Leave for FERS Employees

7. Increase Salary of Non Bargaining Employees

8. National System for Budgets Based on Workloads

9. Combine Plant and Customer Service Authority

10. Reduce Report time to 20% Maximum

11. Eliminate Saturday Delivery

12. Own USPS Properties Instead of Leasing

13. Give Budget Hours for Making Parcel Pickup Service

14. Eliminate ODIS, or Make it an "End to End System"

1. Replace Existing Bargaining Unit Agreement

Present condition: It may be difficult for an outsider who does not know the USPS culture to understand how twenty Postmasters, Managers and Supervisors could rate this as the number one issue that needs, not only change, but also replacement. This one issue influences everything we do as management within the Postal Service. To us, replacing the present system is critical to the survival of the USPS.

The National Bargaining Unit Agreement, along with binding arbitration, has been an assault on the USPS Managements’ rights since its conception. The unions have used the Bargaining Unit Agreement to challenge the rights of management. However, the USPS does not challenge the unions.

The Postal Unions have the right to challenge disputes, by filing grievances. Unions can take grievances through steps in the Grievance Arbitration System. The first step begins with the employee’s direct superior, generally their Supervisor. The second level is with the Postmaster or his or her designee. The third step is at the District level or Area followed by the National level. (There are eighty-five Districts and ten Areas in the United States Postal Service.)

An agreement reached at a particular level in the USPS becomes binding for that level downward. For example, if an agreement is made locally between the union and their Postmaster, the agreement is binding for that local post office only. If a District makes an agreement concerning a grievance, that agreement covers the entire District, likewise with an Area.

The unions such as the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), and the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), have been filing tens of thousands of grievances a year. A large percent of the grievances are filed on the behalf of the union and not because of a complaint from an employee.

The unions generally refuse to settle at the lower steps in the grievance procedure. Their goal is to get as many grievances to arbitration as possible. Once the grievance is waiting to be arbitrated, the unions pick and choose which grievances they want to take to arbitration. The more grievances they have to choose from, the more they win, which increases the amount of additional rights awarded, as well as monetary damages. This is the main reason the USPS has a staggering amount of unsettled grievances waiting for arbitration nationwide.

In recent years Congress and political pressure have forced the USPS to resolve many unmerited grievances. These grievances were settled, although no violations of the contract or wrongdoing can be proven. Those settlements, forced by Congress, have cost the USPS millions of dollars along with language from the agreements that benefited the unions.

This system of settling grievances with the Unions or taking the grievances to arbitration has existed for more than thirty years. The National Agreement combined with other local agreements have changed so many times over those years that it has become virtually impossible to manage effectively. The costs in settled agreements and monies have seriously eroded the USPS’s main mission of providing prompt, reliable and efficient service.

One local NALC President, who works for one of the Postmasters interviewed, has filed between one hundred and five hundred grievances per year for the past fifteen years. In the past three to five years, this local union has been awarded leave from work and received hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash resulting from settlements. Again, the more grievances filed results in more settlements of monies and language to agreements. Two Local Postmasters interviewed have been instructed to settle grievances and have been threatened with their jobs if they don’t settle, though no violations of the agreements can be found.

The USPS and the NALC have written into their agreements a process called the Dispute Resolution Team (DRT). Nationally it has reduced grievances waiting for arbitration by helping to settle disputes at the local level. It would appear that this is a successful process but the majority of those interviewed do not believe so. This process still equates to ‘pay money to the unions or alter the language in agreements or both’. Within the last 6 months we have had resolutions from DRT in which the decision was that the USPS management DID NOT violate the contract. The USPS was still instructed by the DRT team to pay more than one thousand dollars to the local union.

Because of the National Agreement between the union and the USPS, union officials are paid on the clock to process grievances. One local union President has spent from two to fifty hours processing each grievance. Management spends many man-hours retrieving hundreds, sometimes thousands, of pages of documents requested by the union to support their positions. Management lacks the time and resources to retrieve these documents, much less defending grievances, while the union has unlimited paid hours and resources.

Furthermore, the USPS has been the brunt of many statements, by persons outside and inside the organization, that it is "impossible to fire anyone in the Postal Service." There is a reason why people feel this way. The reason is that it is almost impossible to remove anyone from the Postal Service!

The unions have taken a hard stance when it comes to the disciplining of its members. They use aggressive measures to stop their members from having any possibility of being disciplined, let alone being terminated. At the core of the defense of its membership is the grievance arbitration process.

Recently, an employee was turned around, not working, and loudly talking to another employee. One of the supervisors interviewed walked up to that employee and asked them to turn around, go to work, and be quiet. It was a simple instruction given by the supervisor in a tactful manner. The union received 50 hours at the second step of the grievance arbitration procedure to investigate and process a grievance regarding this simple issue. The filing of 999 pages of documents also followed the grievance to the DRT process to defend this individual.

Also, a major concern of those interviewed, was the lack of support from those in human resources who "cut deals" to settle grievances. If a grievance is filed by the NALC for an individual who has been disciplined, and it makes it through the Supervisor and Postmaster (the first two steps of the grievance process), it goes to the next step. Several interviewed have had discipline they issued removed at the DRT process though no violations of the contract or agreement could be found.

Similarly for the APWU, if a grievance makes it to the district level, human resources is more than willing to settle the grievance. If a grievance filed by the NALC is not resolved at the DRT process, or a grievance from the APWU is not settled at the District level, it goes to arbitration.

Of the arbitrators that hear cases for USPS, half are selected by the unions and the other half by the USPS. Arbitrations are expensive and can cost the USPS thousands of dollars. If the unions want to take a grievance to arbitration, the USPS performs what is called a pre-arbitration. Prior to paying for an arbitration, the USPS usually will settle the grievance or a "PRE-ARB" for short. Discipline such as a letter of warning will almost always be thrown out at pre-arbitration because it is cheaper for the USPS to settle.

The latest defense for employees facing discipline is the use of the Equal Employment Opportunity process called EEO’s. Unions will advise employees to file EEO complaints in discipline cases. A level 22 Postmaster and his level 21 Station Manager were upset over these latest tactics used by the unions. They had disciplined employees and union officials had filed EEOs on behalf of the individuals. They commented, "Even if the employee’s actions warrant discipline and you do everything right, an EEO complaint will get the discipline thrown out". They feel they are the ones being put on trial, not the violator.

The issue of dealing with the unions is a large deterrent for anyone who wants to be promoted to a management position.

Proposed Solutions: #1. Replace or significantly improve the Existing Bargaining Unit Agreements. #2. Create an Evaluated Route System (See recommendation #2) for City Carriers, or contract out all city routes that become vacant through attrition. #3. If this is not possible, consider privatizing USPS.

2. Evaluated Route System for City Carriers

Present condition: There are two main systems and a third, but rare, system of pay for carriers in the USPS. The rural route craft is paid a salary for the year based on an evaluation of the route. City carriers are paid on an hourly basis and are "rewarded" for hard work with a greater workload. The third system is a contracted route that is awarded based on a bidding system.

The evaluation of a rural route is based on a count of the carrier’s volume of mail over a period of time, generally a four-week period excluding the months of June, July, August and December. Actual pieces of mail are counted by management and verified by the carrier who is then paid a salary based on the evaluated workload.

The Rural Route system creates a more satisfied craft of employees. The management of rural routes is very minimal in comparison to all other employees in the USPS. It is rare to have grievances filed by the rural carriers. Most employees refer to the rural carrier craft as having the best jobs in the USPS. It is based on the satisfaction gained from the structure of evaluated routes, minimal management oversight, and the ability to go home as soon as the day’s work is done.

The motivation of the city carrier craft is to do the least work possible within the minimal standards for an eight-hour day. The city carriers’ routes are evaluated and adjusted to be as close to eight hours as possible. There are outdated set standards, based on the count of mail, that apply to work done in the post office (prior to leaving to the street to deliver the mail). The time to separate mail is approximately two hours of an eight-hour workday.

There are no standards for the speed or pace of a city carrier on the route outside of office duties. If a city carrier does work at a fast pace, he or she is given portions of the workloads of those who do not want to work fast. Many NALC members and especially union activists have traditionally scorned fast and efficient carriers who make the union members look bad simply by doing a good job in a timely manner. There is a core belief from within the union ranks that if you go fast, you are taking away work from others forcing the USPS to not create more routes. In our local area, the NALC leadership has protested awards for outstanding performance.

The city carrier craft consumes a majority of time of Supervisors, Managers and Postmasters. It is a daily struggle to motivate carriers to be efficient. These struggles have caused Unions to file tens of thousands of grievances on the behalf of its members. The conflicts have caused deterioration in job satisfaction for all employees.

Amongst those interviewed for this report, the proposed solution is a "no brainier." We believe the only reason the USPS has not implemented this type of system is because of pressure from the NALC and/or lack of fortitude. The NALC leadership may not want this system, but the majority of NALC members would prefer a pay system like the rural craft.

Proposed solution: Change the system of compensation for city carriers to a system like the rural carriers, pay based on the evaluation of each individual route. If this must be negotiated with the NALC, and they refuse to put all carriers under this system, negotiate for individual city carriers to have the option of adopting this pay system. If a settlement cannot be reached with the NALC, every route that comes open through attrition or vacancies would be contracted out based on an evaluated system of compensation.

Note: It is our understanding the USPS currently has the right to contract out routes under the present agreements with the unions.

3. Make Grievance Activity a Non-Pay Status

Present condition: Under the bargaining unit agreement, the unions have the right to be on the clock in a paid status for grievance activity. Many have used the language in the National Agreement to investigate and file frivolous grievances and become paid, full time union officers. They are no longer carrying their routes and performing their duties, but are spending up to100% of their time filing grievances for the union.

The USPS does have language in the National Agreement that would limit the use of steward time. The National Agreement states that the request for steward time and information will not be "unreasonably denied." However, because of arbitration settlements, the USPS Human Resources and Law Departments have taken a lenient interpretation of what "unreasonably denied" means. To them it simply means, "Give the unions all the time they request".

Many local union officers are very reasonable with the use of time for grievance activity. There are many who are not reasonable, finding anything to grieve, or using the threat of grievance activity if their demands are not met. Some of the local officers have become full time union activists spending more than forty hours a week filing grievances, paid by the USPS.

All of the twenty Management employees interviewed felt changing grievance activity in a non-pay status would limit the unions to a reasonable use of steward time. At present there is no deterrent for unreasonable use.

Proposed solution: Change the bargaining unit agreement to make grievance activity a non-pay status.

4. Authority to Hire from an Approved Complement

Present condition: The USPS limits Postmasters, Managers and Supervisors on how many people they may hire. The number of people a Postmaster is approved to hire is called a complement. Currently Areas give the Districts their complements. The Districts give Postmasters their complement and are the approving authorities overseeing the hiring of employees.

Postmasters within the Districts, who have vacancies in key positions, are not allowed to hire new employees to fill them. If the Postmaster does get approval to hire, it is with long delays and a system of justification. The result is higher costs in overtime wages to cover these key positions, and inferior service to customers.

Postmasters have sent requests to hire, from their approved complements, to the Districts and have had no response for up to six to eight months. The requests have been turned down even though some cities within the Districts are growing and need extra staffing. The offices affected the most are the field offices located farthest away from the District office.

Part of Customer Service is window staffing, clerks who sell Postal products to customers at the window counters. Window positions have been cut back resulting in long lines and waiting periods for customers. In high growth areas, window staffing has not been adjusted to keep up with growth, which compounds the problem. Also, the USPS has made changes in the rules that discourage new contract stations from selling our products which has also has increased the need for window staffing in post offices.

Without the ability to hire, Postmasters with vacancies are loosing much of their flexibility to control employee costs. A new Customer Service clerk is hired as Part Time Flexible employee (PTF) and starts out at about $15.00 an hour. A regular clerk that has been in the USPS for about fifteen years is paid approximately $21.50 an hour. The PTF’s schedules are flexible and they can be worked from two to four hours and up to twelve hours per day, seven days a week. Their schedules can be changed at any time. Regular clerks on the other hand are guaranteed forty hours of work a week in a five-day a week schedule with regular scheduled hours.

Because the Districts are not allowing Postmasters to hire, they have to use regular employees instead of PTFs. This has caused the Postmasters to loose their flexibility to schedule employees through peak hour usage. A majority of work for Customer Service clerks happens during a four to five hour period called distribution work. This work is generally done between the hours of 5:00 AM and 9:30 AM.

Without the flexibility of hiring new PTFs for vacancies, regulars (full time employees), are performing this work at a premium rate of pay. Once the critical hours of work, 5:00 AM to 9:30 AM, have passed there is generally no productive work for the regulars to do.

Proposed solution: Change the evaluation and approval of a Postmasters existing complement to a formula based system. The system would be administered from one central location. All complements would be approved and administered from headquarters, eliminating the Area and Districts authority. Give the authority to Postmasters to hire within that approved complement. Or, treat Postmasters like a private business, allowing him or her to determine their own need to hire.

5. Streamline Authority

Present condition: The authority of postmasters, managers, and supervisors is increasingly being challenged and diminished. Management personnel in operations are being directed by many sources, from support staff in Districts to Area personnel, and also from Headquarters. This has caused a lack of productivity in units and any autonomy and motivation for the Postmasters, Managers and Supervisors in Operations.

A Postmaster is to report directly to his or her Manager of Postal Operations (MPOO), and the MPOO reports to the District Manager. The District Managers have personnel in support staff positions i.e., Retail Staff, Finances, Safety, Labor Relations, Operations, Address Information System, Central Forwarding System etc…

The support staff within Districts has become more of a ‘report staff’ to the District Manager, instead of a support resource to the MPOO, Postmasters, Managers and Supervisors. The support staff has taken on a role as authority over all it interacts with and presumes that it has an equal level of authority to the District Manager. Many of the support staff members actually have less authority than those they deal with in operations.

Since there is this "assumed authority" in the support staff, they have taken on perverse leadership rolls within the USPS, setting goals trying to lead those who are in greater authority than them. Example: Central Forwarding System (CFS) units were established back in the late 1970’s. Nationally it was a timesaver for the USPS by automating the processing of mail to be forwarded. Instead of individuals manually looking up each forward for a piece of mail, they would send the mail to a central location and use computers. If mail went to the CFS unit and a forward for that piece of mail could not be found, it would be labeled and sent back to the carrier. The carrier then would return the piece of mail to the sender. This mail returned back to the carriers is called "no record mail." Up until the late 1980’s "no record mail " accounted for approximately 15% of the mail sent to the CFS unit.

In the late 1980’s, goals to reduce the amount of "no record mail" began. The goal was to reduce "no record mail" to less than 12%. Training programs were instituted to bring the rates down. From the late 1980’s through the late 1990’s rates were around 12%. From the late 1990’s, Districts and the support staff wanted to reduce the rates to lower than 12%. Presently the goal is lower than 8%. For a unit to achieve the 8% goal, the CFS units have used various authorities within the Districts to institute systems for the review of mail. Instructions have been given to carriers to look up any forwards they do not know prior to sending to the CFS unit. This requires a carrier to sit down and pull individual cards in a card file and match it with the piece of mail.

To reach the goal of under 8%, the carrier unit in an office of ten carrier routes and a box section spend an average of four to five hours a day looking up mail manually. The CFS unit may save fifteen minutes a day due to the reduced "no record mail" being sent to them. Postmasters, Managers and Supervisors have known that the USPS is loosing productive time doing the manual review of mail, but are being directed by the Districts and support staff.

Throughout the week Postmasters may have as many as ten or more District support staff instructing him or her on issues non relevant to the processing and delivery of mail. The Postmasters have little autonomy and are not allowed any creative freedom to do their jobs and accomplish the goals for their post office. Currently level 24 Postmasters are spending approximately one hour a day on the phone discussing issues such as "why carriers and clerks have scanning errors".

One level 24 postmaster interviewed for this report described this issue as the "tail wagging the dog". He described how a support staff person, in retail, was sending messages to him on a daily basis as if this issue was the most important to the USPS. The postmaster may follow the instructions from the retail staff member and generate an extra $10/day for the organization. However, the postmaster could spend as much as $300/day for the time he lost dealing with the Support Staffs directions rather than planning for and supervising his delivery services.

Proposed Solution: Reestablish issues of importance to Postmasters, Managers, and Supervisors. Let the USPS mission statement and vision for the future act as a guide. Give autonomy back to postmasters and allow them creativity and flexibility, within established guidelines, to make decisions to accomplish their goals.

6. Incentive Systems to Save Sick Leave for FERS Employees

Present condition: There is no incentive for employees under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) to save sick leave. FERS covered employees tell us they do not have any reason to save their sick leave because they will lose it once they leave the Postal Service. With the passing of the Family Medical Leave Act, it is almost impossible to correct employees who abuse their sick leave. An incentive, such as the plan that exists in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), is greatly needed.

Since FERS replaced CSRS in 1983, sick leave usage has gradually increased from approximately 1.0% to 2.0% of all hours worked in the mid 1980’s, to close to 4% today. The costs to replace skilled employees are high. Replacing a city carrier, out on sick leave, could cost anywhere from 8.5 to 11 hours to deliver the sick carrier’s 8 hour route. Unlike other government agencies, the city carrier’s workload must be worked that day and the replacement, unfamiliar with the sick carrier’s route, takes more time to deliver the route, obviously costing the Postal Service more money.

Existing employees, who have chosen to remain under the CSRS retirement system, have an incentive to save their sick leave. The system allows for the participant, who saved his or her earned sick leave, to be compensated for their savings after they retire. Individuals earn approximately 100 hours of sick leave per year. By retirement age a person could easily save 2080 hours. At retirement, a CSRS participant is paid 2% of the average of their highest three years’ salary for every 2080 hours of sick leave saved. This is the equivalent of one year worked, earning the employee another 2% of their base pay or approximately another $100 a month. Many of the CSRS employees who have saved their sick leave, have saved the USPS millions in employee replacement costs each year.

Proposed solution: Change FERS to include same incentive to save sick leave as the CSRS retirement system. The costs savings will be measured in the replacement costs of employees currently calling in sick.

7. Increase Salary of Non Bargaining Employees

Present condition: Salaries of Management employees in the USPS have not kept up with craft employees. A craft employee promoted to management will likely make less money, for several years, than if they remained a craft employee. This has created a new generation of Supervisors that have been chosen from a very limited field of candidates.

In the early 1990’s, the competition for those seeking a management position was great. The USPS, as an organization, was choosing the best of the best. Presently, in larger cities such as Seattle and Portland, it is not unusual to hire from outside the USPS. Many cities do not have candidates from the ranks of the USPS applying for the positions.

Similarly, pay for those who have been in management has not increased at a reasonable rate. Those who have been in the ranks of management use to reach the highest step in their salary after 12 years. Some are still in the same position they were 15 years ago and are only approximately half way through the step process. It is not unusual for craft employees, being paid for a ten-hour day, to make much more than a senior Supervisor or Manager working that same ten hours.

Craft employees receive a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), regularly. The USPS took this benefit away from those in Management in the mid 1990’s.

Certain levels in management are being paid salary not hourly. The workloads for management personnel have increased to the point that many managers are expected to work 50-60 hours per week without extra compensation. Supervisors are not paid for administrative work. This type of work has increased beyond reasonable levels.

Proposed solution: Return COLA and overtime pay to all Supervisors and Managers. Re-institute the pay system in the management ranks prior to the changes in the early 1990’s.

8. National System for Budgets Based on Workloads

Present condition: Budgets are given to Postmasters, Managers and Supervisors from Districts. The Districts receive their budgets from Areas, and Areas get their budgets from Headquarters. There is presently no consistency in the application of how Postmasters, Managers and Supervisors receive their budgets in the USPS.

Postmasters, Managers and Supervisors have traditionally received budgets based on the previous year’s performance. A person whose performance was excellent and who saved on their budget for the year would be ‘rewarded’ with fewer hours in their budget for the following year. Likewise, those who do not perform well and exceed their budget would get additional budgeted hours for the following year. Post offices in areas with high growth and increased workloads need additional delivery routes, carriers, and clerks but have not been given any additional hours making it nearly impossible to meet budget.

The inconsistencies in how Postmasters, Managers or Supervisors receive their budgets have caused good performance to look bad and some bad performances look good. This also holds true for Districts and Areas. Areas, such as the northeast part of the US, have carrier routes that average 350 to 500 deliveries, contrary to the west coast, which have routes that average 650 to 800 deliveries. So, a carrier on the east coast may take 8 hours to deliver 350 to 500 deliveries when a carrier on the west coast must deliver 650 to 800 deliveries in the same amount of time. The Districts have similar inconsistencies where a larger cities’ performance is much less than the smaller field offices. City carriers in big cities may be as much as 30% less productive than those in smaller offices or offices located away from their district.

In 2001, the Portland District began using a new process of evaluating budgeted clerk hours called a Function 4 audit (F4), and it is presently being used in the Western Area. The Function 4 audit process has allowed the Portland District to go into an office and evaluate its workload from factual data, and determine a budget for that particular office. The concept of this process is the "most fair" system developed for determining the budget of an office but needs changes to some of the formulas and data.

The Function 4 audit process also generates a report showing a recommended number of employees needed for that office, a Complement (mentioned earlier in #4).

The Function 4 audit currently covers customer service clerks only. There is no other process like it to evaluate other employees in the USPS.

Proposed solution: Use a system, such as the Function 4 audit, for all work and give budgets to Postmasters, Managers and Supervisors. Make the system part of the Complement. Create a national system generating all budgets from one central location and allow Postmasters to hire within that approved complement. Use the National Association of Supervisors to help determine what formulas and choice of data would work in an workload driven budget evaluation system.

9. Combine Plant and Customer Service Authority

Present Condition: Plant facilities process the mail and Customer Service operations deliver the mail. Prior to the mid-1990’s, Customer Service Postmasters had authority over their plant facilities. In the mid 1990’s, the USPS split the structure of plant facilities, giving them autonomy from the Customer Service Postmasters. Now Postmasters have no authority over plant facilities whatsoever. This change has cost the USPS large sums of monies and diminished service to its customers. Some of the Postmasters have estimated this one change to have cost the USPS a quarter to half a billion dollars in hidden costs a year.

When the USPS established separate authorities for Plants and Customer Service it created more administrative positions. Some of the Plant and Customer Service operations are housed in the same buildings with two layers of management and staff. The USPS also upgraded the Plant Management positions costing the USPS more monies in higher salaries.

The workload of the USPS changes seasonally and fluctuates during the week. Prior to the separation of the Plant and Customer Service Operations, the Postmaster had the authority to control the effects of workload changes. The Postmasters use to work as much mail as possible advancing mail (delivering it a day early) on Fridays or prior to holidays.

The advancing of mail would cut down overtime usage, on Mondays and the day following a holiday, in the delivery units. Postmasters also had the authority to move workload from the plants to correspond with the staffing to his delivery unit. For example, a delivery unit may average twelve hundred feet of mail per week, or 200 feet a day. The mail coming out of the plants is heaviest for Monday’s delivery. Prior to the split, postmasters would advanced mail on Fridays for delivery on Saturday, making Monday’s heavy volume less of an impact on his budget, and at the same time provide better service to our customers.

EXAMPLE OF VOLUME CHANGES DURING THE WEEK

Typical Average Daily Volumes (in feet)

Saturday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Total

Before Split: 210 240 180 175 195 200 1200

After Split: 140 330 180 175 185 190 1200

Averaging 200 feet of mail a day, in a unit with ten routes, each route would receive 20 feet of mail. Prior to the split, a carrier would get 24 feet of mail on Mondays. (It takes an average of ten to fifteen minutes work for every extra foot of mail to be delivered.) Ten minutes times four extra feet equates to the carrier averaging forty minutes of overtime on Mondays. That same carrier is now getting 33 feet of mail on Mondays (thirteen extra feet), which equates to two hours and 10 minutes.

The Plants have budgets and overtime goals like the Customer Service units. Since the split, the Plants are unwilling to spend a few hours of overtime to level the workloads for the Customer Service delivery units. They staff the Plants to meet their own needs instead of the needs of the organization as a whole.

Proposed solution: Review the changes that took place when the Plant and Delivery Services were split and restore authority to Postmasters.

10. Reduce Report time to 20% Maximum

Present Condition: The USPS has many handbooks and manuals that guide daily operations. However, some Areas, Districts and local Postmasters have written additional documents, called "Operating Instructions" containing hundreds of pages of "how to" instructions and reports that they are requiring management complete on a daily basis. They are constantly changing the requirements causing confusion as to what is expected from management personnel.

As a result, Supervisors who are overseeing delivery services, in offices with city routes, now spend approximately 60% of their time doing reports or computer work. Most of these time-sensitive reports are required to be completed during the critical hours when city carriers are in the building sorting mail and in need of supervision. Supervisors are put in a position where they have to choose between supervising their employees and completing reports. Recently the USPS has changed the rules for paying supervisors and is not paying overtime for any administrative work, only for supervision of employees. Administrative work for supervisors has doubled or tripled in the last five years.

Even completing the report on a USPS computer has become difficult. Several of the Supervisors that were interviewed have nineteen postal systems that require passwords to access. The systems are, MSP, DOIS, Windows 2000, CC;Mail (personal and office) POSONE, CSDRS, TACS, AVUS, POMS, ADVANCE, Mail Arrival, Western Area Report, E-Travel, E-Buy, E-Awards, IIMS, WINBATS, WINSSI. These Supervisors have to access twelve of these report systems daily and generate information or reports. Most of their passwords are different for each system and are constantly requiring change.

Four of the daily USPS reporting systems require that you change your password every 120 days. You cannot use your past six passwords. Some passwords must have eight to twenty two characters in them with at least one number in the password. The passwords are case sensitive in some but not all reporting systems. In some passwords you cannot use your name or parts of your name. If you type in the wrong password in three attempts, you are locked out of that system until you call a 1-800 number and get a new password. If you do not use some of these systems within a 120-day period, you must obtain a new password.

Some Supervisors work in more than one office in Customer Services. The passwords to access to the USPS systems are different for each office. Getting a new password for a new employee to use some of the systems can take as many as 90 days.

Once reports have been made, supervisors are required to print hard copies, file them, and send them to the direct reporting authority even though almost all data or reports can be accessed via computer. Some copies of reports are sent to three or four different people through the mail causing the USPS to pay for the necessary postage. Rarely is any data from copied reports used, the copies are put into files and stored.

Reports such as the Aviation Mail Security Audit conducted each accounting period is scrutinized to the extreme. Managers, Postmasters and Supervisors are corrected on this report continually and the requirements change frequently. Corrections to the report have been sent back to the originator for the following reasons:

1. The reporting office used dashes not slashes between the numbers on dates.

2. The date numbers did not contain two numbers such as 01 for January.

3. Check marks or X’s were used in yes or no boxes instead of filling in the box completely with ink.

4. The ink was not blue ink or the proper color blue ink.

5. One or some of the twenty boxes were not marked correctly (although debates on the proper answer have taken place).

6. Proper names or word usage were not used correctly on the form.

7. Postmasters and Managers were not trusted to put an accurate date on the form. They then were required to use a round cancellation date stamp. Some forms now have been sent back or criticized because the date stamp was not ‘centered properly’ in the circle on a form.

8. Recently the ink on certain date stampers was bleeding through the paper. (Offices were required to dispose of the existing, expensive stampers and purchase particular brand of stamper called "X stamper" so the ink would not bleed through the report page.)

Proposed solution: Eliminate any reports that are not on and relevant to approved postal forms from Headquarters. Eliminate instructions not found in postal handbooks or manuals. Audit Districts annually regarding proper reporting on approved forms and take appropriate action. Implement strict compliance to legislation passed by Congress requiring Federal government agencies to reduce the use of paper. Change rules and allow overtime to be paid to supervisors.

11. Eliminate Saturday Delivery

Present condition: The USPS presently delivers mail on Saturdays although generally businesses are not open. Most people reserve Saturdays as a family activity or leisure day, not business. Most residential customers would accept their mail not being delivered on Saturdays.

The costs associated with Saturday deliveries are high. Since the USPS delivers six days a week, we have had to hire employees who deliver only on the regular carrier’s day off. If you have 25 routes, you need 5 full time carriers for day off replacement. These replacement carriers that deliver on five different routes are paid at a step higher than the other carriers. The step increase equates to approximately $100.00 a month for each replacement carrier.

Because of cuts in staffing nationwide, the Saturday coverage in mail processing plants have decreased. Smaller mail processing crews mean that mail flow to carriers on Saturdays has been reduced dramatically. However, the pay scale on weekends and before 6:00 AM is at a premium rate. Eliminating Saturday deliveries would be a huge costs savings in wages as well as plant operations.

This particular idea received differing opinions from the interviewees. Some of the comments made were operational issues. For example, what do you do on holiday weeks? How could we handle the volumes on Mondays since it already has the most volume of mail to deliver and process? Would this give up our current advantage over our competition? (Our competition currently does not deliver on Saturdays.)

Proposed Solution: Eliminate Saturday delivery. Deliver mail on all holidays other than major holidays. The employees who work would be paid holiday pay. Make changes to the delivery standards allowing the standard class mail to be held over an extra day for Tuesday delivery. Eliminate Saturday mail processing to level workload for Mondays.

12. Own USPS Properties Instead of Leasing

Present condition: Our understanding is any property purchase greater than $500,000.00, must be approved by the Board of Governors which can take anywhere from 5-15 years. By the time approval is granted the original planning of the project is outdated and does not meet present needs. Also, length of time affects the availability of property. Property owners do not wish to ‘hold’ a piece of property indefinitely hoping that the purchase will finally be approved.

Although funding for property purchases must go through the Board of Governors, Postal Areas and Districts have the ability to fund leases and/or renovations. The USPS must design into its buildings special requirements for USPS Inspection Service and other security issues that are unique to the USPS. These systems are much more expensive to put into existing buildings than new buildings. Since the USPS leases most spaces, the costs are extreme and require long-term commitments. Also, local and state governments do not tax property owned by the USPS, however, properties leased by the USPS are subject to property taxes. Therefore, the leasing of property for postal use has a hidden cost associated with taxes.

Large growth in the past two decades has required more space to continue operations. The USPS has been aggressive in the leasing of buildings, called Detached Carrier Units, rather than expanding their owned property and buildings. These carrier units, "DCU’s", are located away from the Main Post Office. The transporting of processed mail from a DCU to the Main Office is expensive and time is lost causing mail to be delivered later in the day.

One example of leasing property instead of purchasing property was the proposed purchase of property, along with an 80,000 sq. ft., building next to the Airport in Medford, Oregon. The total cost of the property including the building was under two million dollars. The planning stages of the project cost the USPS more than one hundred thousand dollars. The project fell through due to a looming Board of Governor’s approval process and conflicts in planning by the District. Instead, the Western Area approved ten million dollars to renovate an old building in Medford, purchase capital goods, and lease the building for ten years.

Presently the USPS leases 26,584 facilities nation wide at a cost of 818.9 million dollars a year. The leasing of property instead of purchasing property has led to widespread urban legends among employees that "the people in power want us to go broke in order to privatize the USPS".

Proposed Solution: Make part of the USPS Vision Statement to own, not lease, property and to make property purchases in an expedient manner. Raise the spending limit requiring approval by the Board of Governors to at least ten million dollars and above.

Increase funding for the purchase of property and allow Areas and Districts greater buying power and flexibility. Expand presently owned buildings where feasible and move mail processing and carriers back to one location.

13. Give Budget Hours for Making Parcel Pickup Service

Present condition: There is a negative reward system set up internally within the USPS for parcel pickup from customers. This system has discouraged any promotion of gaining parcel volume from our competitors. The system is also very difficult for customers to use.

For a customer to get a parcel pickup, they must first call the USPS. The USPS policy is that we do not give out local phone numbers and the numbers cannot be found in phone books. The customer must call 1-800 ASK USPS. This process may take as many as fifteen minutes to connect to a contracted service employee who does not know our systems. That employee will then connect the customer to the local Post Office in their area.

Once connected, there is a fee to pickup the parcels. Most offices don’t even know how much to charge for the pickup or how to collect the fees. Also, the collecting of the parcels is extremely difficult due to the lack of available employees required to pickup at unscheduled times. Currently, in a city of 100,000 people, the average number of calls for pickup is under five per year.

The values of the Postal Service are Budget, Service and Safety. Budget is at the top of the list. To make any type of special pickup service for our customers would go against the Budget goals established for each individual office because it takes many extra hours to perform the pickup service and the office is not reimbursed for the hours used.

Proposed Solution: Give budget hours to create parcel pickup service, which would increase revenue as well as competition. The present parcel post pickup system needs to be evaluated and become more customer friendly.

14. Eliminate ODIS, or Make it an "End to End System"

Present condition: Origination Destination Information System (ODIS) is an internal measurement system used by the USPS. It is a data collection process which records how long it takes for each class of mail to get from origination to destination. The USPS uses the information provided extensively in providing service to the public. It is an outdated, flawed system that needs to be replaced.

The ODIS system is very labor intensive. It uses highly trained personnel who travel to many different locations within Districts to gather data. It is not unusual for individuals to drive several hours or require overnight accommodations to perform these tests. The tests are conducted on location by gathering a sampling of mail that includes different classes and sizes. The examiner takes the mail pieces and records data. For instance, the examiner may create a report on the percentage of first class mail that is delivered on time within an overnight delivery area.

The system is flawed because it is not and "end to end" system. It tracks mail only half way through the Postal system. It begins tracking from the cancellation equipment to the delivery office, rather than from the point of origin to the delivery office.

Information on the mail pieces is not consistent and does not give accurate data. The ODIS system uses cancellation dates, or meter dates, as its main source of information. As much as 20% of metered mail that enters our system may contain the wrong date. A large number of postal customers place their own meter dates on their mail. Therefore the dates on the meter strip are not marked with the date that the USPS received the mail but the date it was run through the customer’s meter machine. The USPS does not run metered mail through its canceling process. If the metered mail makes it to the new canceling equipment, the equipment will not allow for a cancellation date to be placed over a meter date. If a customer puts mail in a collection box after the last pickup time of that day (for example 6:00 PM) it will be collected the following day. That mail then enters our system dated at least one day earlier than it should be.

The USPS has contracted with Price Waterhouse to provide an "end to end" measurement system. Price Waterhouse tracks mail from the time the piece is placed in the collection box to the delivery destination. Even though the USPS has contracted to Price Waterhouse, the ODIS system still exists and collects the same amount of data that it did prior to the Price Waterhouse contract. In essence we are paying twice for the same service.

New scanning technology has allowed the USPS to establish two separate systems that can track mail pieces. One uses a bar code and the other uses a planet code. For instance, all USPS carriers are currently using hand held scanners that scan bar codes for certified, registered, express, and delivery & signature confirmation mail. Once scanned, the information is downloaded into a national database. This allows the Postal Service to track the mail piece from the date and time it entered a specific collection box to the date and time of delivery.

The planet code has the ability to track a mail piece through the automated equipment within the Postal Service. A planet code could be placed on a mail piece prior to being put in a collection box. The mail piece could then be tracked through each piece of automated equipment it moves through on its way to delivery. The ODIS system presently does not use any of the scanning technology available.

Proposed Solution: These two scanning technologies, planet codes and hand held bar scanners could easily be combined to create an "end to end" tracking system. A bar code and a planet code could both be placed on a mail piece. The piece could then be scanned with the hand held scanner to establish the date, time, and place of origin into the Postal system. As the mail piece moves through the Postal System the planet code would allow it to be tracked from city to city through each piece of automated machinery. When the mail piece reaches its destination point the delivery carrier could scan it with the hand held scanner to determine the exact date and time of delivery. Drastically reduce costs by eliminating the contract with Price Waterhouse and revamping ODIS to make use of existing, superior technology as described above.