Timely Processing of Mail at the Boston, MA, Processing and Distribution Center
BACKGROUND:
Excessive delayed mail adversely affects U.S. Postal Service customers and harms the organization's brand. The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General's Performance and Risk Information Systems model identified the Greater Boston District as having significant delayed mail volume. The analysis of delayed mail during fiscal year (FY) 2014, Quarter (Q)1 identified the Boston Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) as a facility with significantly more delayed mail compared to the same period last year.
The Boston P&DC began consolidating Middlesex Essex P&DC originating mail in April 2013. The P&DC consolidated destinating mail from the Middlesex Essex P&DC from August 2013 (FY 2013, Q4) to March 2014 (FY 2014, Q2).
Our objective was to determine whether the Boston P&DC processed mail on time.
WHAT THE OIG FOUND:
The Boston P&DC did not always process mail on time. The Boston P&DC had about 28 million delayed mailpieces in FY 2014, Q1, representing a 56 percent increase in delayed mail compared to the same period last year. Similarly sized facilities averaged about 8 million delayed mailpieces during the same period.
The majority of delayed mail was due to implementation errors associated with the Middlesex Essex P&DC consolidation. These errors included failure to update the Boston P&DC operating plan, acquire additional handling equipment, properly schedule employees, enforce proper color coding of mail, and properly supervise mail flow. Consequently, service scores in Boston declined and the percentage of carriers reporting back after 5 p.m. increased by 25 percent during FY 2014, Q1. We estimate that $534,141 of Postal Service revenue is at risk as a result of these errors.
WHAT THE OIG RECOMMENDED:
We recommended the vice presidents, Network Operations and Northeast Area, expedite material handling requests for the Boston P&DC, update the Boston P&DC operating plan, adjust staffing and scheduling of employees, train employees on proper color coding, and train supervisors on expediting mail flow.