March 6, 2002 OCA Report Report Of The Consumer Advocate On Quality Of Services Provided By The Postal Service To The Public
Summary of Findings
Quotes from OCA Report:
Overview
"Priority Mail is one of the Postal Service's premier services in terms of price and promised delivery time. It is OCA's view that the Postal Service is not providing the priority service promised to a high enough percentage of the pieces handled. In addition, and more troubling, is that the Postal Service appears to be withholding information from consumers, leaving them unequipped to make an informed choice between First Class and Priority. Moreover, in OCA's investigation of the advertisements and information disseminated about Priority Mail, OCA has determined that the Postal Service is misleading the public about the quality of service it is likely to receive upon purchase of Priority Mail." (Page 4)
Service
"According to witness Haldi, Priority Mail performed worse than First Class in overnight, two-day, and three-day service areas...Delivery within three days was not achieved for approximately eight or ten percent (depending on measurement instrument) of total Priority Mail volume." (Page 5)
"There are several measures of Priority Mail delivery performance in the record of this proceeding... Priority Mail delivery times have steadily eroded since the last rate case, most dramatically in the 3-day service areas (from 76% in time in FY 1999 to only 67% on time in FY 2001, according to ODIS)." (Page 6)
"For five test mailings, the First-Class and Priority Mail pieces arrived on the same day. In two instances, the Priority Mail piece arrives ahead of the First-Class piece, while in two other instances, the First-Class piece arrived first. To summarize, in OCA's small-scale test, First-Class letters and flats had an approximately equal record of speed." (Page 9)
Transparency and Accountability
"The Commission added another element to its evaluation of Priority Mail - the principle of accurate advertising of the Priority Mail service. The Commission observed that the name "Priority Mail" connotes a superior service, and it is advertised as a two-to-three day service. The three-day goal is often not met, leading to ill-informed choices by consumers." (Page 6)
"It is clear that the Postal Service is not merely withholding the information that the Commission explicitly asked the Service to provide, but is now embellishing the purported advantages of Priority Mail be telling the public that Priority Mail travels on the same transportation as Express Mail...In her declaration, Shelly Dreifuss reports that in two visits to Postal Service facilities, clerks would not give the specific delivery times for First-Class Mail. One clerk would merely state that First Class takes between one and three days for delivery. In another facility, the clerk stated that all First-Class Mail takes three days for delivery, even if the destination address is across the street from the originating location (although the clerk conceded that it might take less than three days for delivery). ..As exhorted by the Commission in its last opinion, and as a matter of fundamental fairness, the Postal Service should not withhold information from the public allowing them to evaluate for themselves whether First Class or Priority Mail (often at a much higher price) will satisfy the customer's needs." (Page 14)
"It is evident from a comparison of witness Spatola's testimony and the Postal Service's Call Center claims and Priority Mail advertising that the Postal Service is making not merely misleading statements about the transportation of Priority Mail, but false statements." (Page 16)
"In addition the Postal Service maintains separate mailstreams for the processing of Priority Mail and Express Mail processed ahead of Priority Mail and all other classes and services. Most members of the public have no knowledge of how the transportation, processing, and delivery of Priority Mail and Express Mail is accomplished. To begin with, the statement that Priority Mail receives the same transportation as Express Mail is, in large part, a false one. When the other functions involved in the processing and delivery of these two services are added to the picture, it is clear that consumers are being pressured into buying a service that will not be as expedited as they are led to believe, and which, in fact, might very well be slower than the First-Class Mail alternative that they have been told may take "one to three days" to be delivered." (Page 18)
Processing Delays
"Mail that was delayed in the Certified Mail processing operation was not reported delayed as required on the Daily Mail Condition Report. These unacceptable practices were widespread throughout the Northeast area. Postal officials responsible for Delivery Policies and Programs agreed that the lapses in the Northeast were indicative of systematic problems throughout all areas of the United States." (Page 25)
Bonus System
"There was a suggestion that the Postal Service's Economic Value Added Pay Program for managers created a perverse incentive with respect to the handling of Certified Mail, i.e., managers are rewarded for staying within their budgets, and the deployment of additional employees working overtime hours during peak tax season could cause the managers to exceed their budgets." (Page 26)
