by APWU Executive Vice-President Greg Bell
Lessons Learned, Lessons Ignored
A recent report by the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) confirms what many of us already knew: Postal management’s actions regarding its network consolidation plans lack creditability and transparency. (Management Advisory Report # NO-MA-13-004, Lessons Learned from Mail Processing Network Rationalization Initiatives.)
The OIG reviewed past and current Network Rationalization Initiatives (NRI) to identify lessons the Postal Service has learned from these efforts to consolidate mail processing operations.
The report is timely, coming on the heels of the Postal Service’s decisions to accelerate 71 consolidations that were originally scheduled for 2014 to 2013.
Among the conclusions of the OIG were, “Consolidation activities during the 2012 fall mailing season conflicted with information shared with stakeholders. In addition, overall cost saving projections were revised on several occasions, causing stakeholders to further question the initiative. When information is inconsistent, the Postal Service risks diminishing public confidence while increasing opposition to optimization efforts.”
That’s an understatement.
The Postal Service continues to be the subject of criticism and ridicule for the uncertainty it creates – saying one thing and doing another, shifting from plan to plan, citing questionable cost savings and impacts on service, and adversely affecting businesses, individual customers, communities and employees.
Accelerating the consolidations will cause unnecessary disruption in the lives of employees, harm communities, delay service every day of the week, and drive away customers. It also violates the commitment Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe made to employees, customers, communities, local and state governments, and members of Congress that the consolidations would not occur until 2014.
In a May 17, 2012, press release announcing the change to a phased consolidation process, PMG Donahoe stated, “We revised our network consolidation timeline to provide a longer planning schedule for our customers, employees and other stakeholders, and to enable a more methodical and measured implementation.”
As the OIG noted in its report, “Management stated that phased implementation of the initiative provides customers and employees with time to adapt to the smaller mail processing network, meets cost-reduction goals while maintaining service performance, and addresses scheduling constraints due to the holiday mailing seasons. In addition, incremental implementation allows management to develop and use any lessons learned for future consolidations.”
So what happened? What has the Postal Service learned? Apparently, very little.
Instead of evaluating the effects of the first phase of consolidations before proceeding with Phase 2 as the Postal Regulatory Commission recommended and the Postal Service promised, the Postal Service now states, “The Postal Service has identified the opportunity to accelerate the anticipated savings while still maintaining the interim SCF service standard.” Really!
In an April 3, 2013, video address to employees, Postmaster General Donahoe stated, “What we’re trying to figure out is how to maintain that 35 percent overnight service going forward while we make the consolidations.”
In other words, the Postal Service intends to accelerate consolidations even though management hasn’t yet figured out how to maintain service standards while doing so.
Furthermore, the cost factors the USPS relied on last year when it approved the consolidations have changed significantly, making the studies that justified the original consolidation decisions obsolete.
In addition, the Postal Service has made numerous unreported modifications to the plan, such as changing the gaining facilities, without recalculating potential savings and losses.
So why accelerate the consolidations? It is counter-productive and it doesn’t make sense. The accelerated consolidations should be cancelled, and Congress should be given the time it was promised to enact postal reform legislation.
Creditability and transparency are important. Unfortunately, the Postal Service is ignoring lessons identified by the OIG based on management’s own experience.
We here at the Southern Ct P&DC are totally in the dark with nothing but rumors concerning our fate.APPS processing ending May 1st with the machine being dismantled and sent to Middlesex? isn’t that plant on the closure list also ? at a moving cost of almost 1 million $.a downsizing in Sept. and closure in Feb ? Oh , no, wait…… this morning the rumor is April next year…..for now anyways.
The union supplies no info, nor does mgt. As all our futures hang in the balance…..good luck all !!!!!
NALC gave money to Issa’s campaign, APWU did not.
Privatize it. It’s the only way you can cleanse the P.O. of the gross nepotism, good-ol’-boys, corruption, etcetera. Every 1 out of 3 PSE’s at my Plant are related to someone within the ranks of management. And some of the PSE’s who supposedly aren’t related, sure to have a striking resemblence to some of the supervisors, or clerks, etcetera…
Harley, FedEx and Pitney Bowes also contributed to Issa’s campaign. So did APWU, and look where that got us!
I believe if you check UPS is one of the top 12 contributors to issas campaigns
First Class mail is plummeting !
I changed crafts and now carry
mail. I thought being a clerk was
bad, but this is ten times worse.
Don’t make the switch unless you
have no choice. The routes are getting
huge as the mail continues to fall.
All the decent routes have old timers
on them and they aren’t going anywhere.
I’ve only got two years seniority as a carrier,
but over seven as a clerk. The way this place
is going it won’t be around to much longer.
Oh well, what can you do.
I suspect that the reason for accelerating the consolidations is that ones already completed are money loser, service killers and costing a fortune in transportation. Must accelerate before this suspicion is confirmed??? ???
Less people using paper mail now, mostly go online, that is the trend. Sell the PO to private sector, let they running the mailing industry like the FedEx and UPS, and the IRS gain more revenue from the private sector
When the OIG goes after an employee, they are a watchdog with sharp teeth.
When they deal with Management, they are a lapdog with no teeth.
Paul Ryan’s wife was a lobbyist for UPS…
Where do you get your information about Issa’s wife being a lobbyist? I searched and found her to be a homemaker. If you can’t substantiate statements like that, don’t make them.
this has been my point all along. the reason we r losing money is b/c it is run like shit. all upper management has to go. do not privitize but restructure with better management. congress needs to look at the inner workings of management to see why we are losing so much money.
Issa’s wife is a lobbyist for either FedEx or UPS, I can’t remember which.
They dont give 2 turds about what the OIG says. This is the same OIG that told them the FSS was a boondoggle, yet here they are cranking away, loosing money every piece it sorts. The OIG was designed to give their decisions an air of credibility, a wished-for rubber stamp that would give the impression all is above-board. Luckily, somebody in OIG doesn’t want to play ball and hats off to them. Too bad nobody’s listening.
Who is going to get how much money when mail processing is private?
It has been stated that by privatizing the mail processing facilities a letter sent from Florida to Alaska would cost between $2.50 and $5.00.
Private industry would be making a lot of money.
Mail carriers would still be government, AND THE POSTAL SERVICE WOULD STILL BE LOSING MONEY.
What lobby is putting money in Darrell Issa’s pocket, you tell me?
If you want a clear example of what the OIG is talking about just stop by the Springfield NDC in MA. We were told three weeks ago the wallingford Plant in CT is shutting down and we will be taking on the Southern CT. priority mail. Told figure it out out no prior plans of how this is to be done, no project management involved. Goes live next Tuesday and still nothing from the powers to be on a lay out, scheme change, adapting the machines for this. Supervisors have no idea what is happening. They have been told nothing except you are getting the mail and figure it out. Instead of planning 6 to 12 months out for this to make it as lean an operation as possible and still get the job done and save money the sprinfield plant is throwing lots of employees at it. Thats the way to go give early outs then hire a crap load of people and run a manual operation.
Donahoe and the rest have morons putting time in – no union body works. no reason to explain anything to those morons as they would never understand anyway. Same with the fools you elected- from your boy on down as they made the mess by being stupid.
This points out what most of us know is correct. That Donahoe and the rest of USPS management are a bunch of morons ! Disrupting employees lives while degrading service. Thats ok though , I’ll report to my new facility and June and I’ll be looking for some of that big OT $$$ they’ll be throwing away ! Could someone pass the gravy please ? Maybe I can pad my IRA enough to jump off this runaway train before it comes to a crashing halt !