Letter Carriers' Workload and Overtime Concerns at Irvington Station, Fremont, California

Gao ID: GGD-85-39 April 15, 1985

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed letter carrier operations and the use of overtime to complete mail deliveries at a post office in California. GAO noted that the request was prompted by complaints from letter carriers at that post office.

GAO found that: (1) the high rates of overtime developed because of unanticipated rapid growth in mail volume; (2) the volume of mail caused carriers to be unable to deliver all mail during an 8-hour period; (3) supervisors did not perform required analyses of routes; and (4) managers did not act to eliminate the high use of overtime. GAO also found that: (1) a systematic analysis of route lengths would have demonstrated the need for more carriers; (2) overtime increased labor costs by about $43,000; and (3) the excessive use of overtime had a negative impact on the carriers' morale.

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.

Director: James G. Mitchell Team: General Accounting Office: General Government Division Phone: (202) 275-8676


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