Better Planning Needed by Postal Service in Relocating Mail Processing Operations

The Postal Service transferred selected mail processing operations from York, Pennsylvania, to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The effect of the move on operations and costs and the manner in which the move affected employees was examined.

Postal officials did not adequately inform York employees about the transfer and made public disclosures which were misleading. Subsequent to notifying personnel of their new work locations, Postal Service officals did not meet with the affected employees to discuss excessing procedures and answer questions. Employees were confused and not fully informed about their rights and options at the time of the transfer. When the York/Lancaster consolidation was implemented, the number of trained personnel at both locations was not sufficient to perform necessary postal functions. The lack of trained personnel increased operating costs and hampered postal operations at both York and Lancaster. The Postal Service's economic feasibility study significantly overestimated the projected annual savings resulting from the transfer. The study underestimated manpower requirements and did not consider startup costs.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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