Postal Service

This report reviews mail service in the communities served by the Dakota Central Area Mail Processing Center in Huron, South Dakota. GAO assesses the validity of concerns of postal customers that the new center, which opened in July 1993, would not be able to maintain overnight mail service in the area. GAO compares mail service in Aberdeen, South Dakota, which processes its own mail, with service in and between other communities whose mail is processed at the center. GAO also compares (1) the cost of the center with the projected costs and (2) the number of personnel and workhours devoted to mail processing before and after the consolidation.

GAO found that: (1) the Aberdeen postal facility has slightly better overnight delivery service than the Dakota Central Area Mail Processing Center; (2) the Center's overnight mail service has generally met the Postal Service's performance standard for overnight delivery and substantially exceeds the overnight performance of other service areas in the nation; (3) the Center's construction costs have exceeded the consolidation plan's estimates due to the Postal Service's decision to construct a new facility rather than renovate the existing building as originally planned; (4) the Center's first-year operating costs have exceeded estimates partly because of increased transportation costs; (5) mail processing personnel and workhours devoted to mail processing at the Dakota Center have increased by about 44 percent after consolidation; and (6) in response to GAO recommendations, the Postmaster General is developing new guidelines for planning and evaluating area mail processing consolidations, including postimplementation reviews.

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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