USPS Reinstates Relocation Leave For Postal Execs
Handbook F-15-A Revision: Reinstatement of Relocation Leave for Eligible Executive and Administrative Schedule
Employees
Effective September 19, 2011, relocation leave for eligible executive and administrative schedule (EAS) employees has been reinstated. Handbook F-15-A, Relocation Policy — Non-Bargaining Executive and Administrative Schedule Employees, is revised to include relocation leave for eligible EAS employees.
[Add new subchapter 26 as follows:]
26 Relocation Leave
EAS employees are eligible to receive paid time off generally for the packing, delivering, and unpacking of household goods or at their manager’s discretion as long as it is related to relocation. Employees are authorized to use up to 5 days (8-hour increments) of relocation leave. These days do not have to be consecutive. This leave is also available to the employee’s spouse, if he or she is also employed by the Postal Service. Relocation leave is charged to Code 080 in TACS.
USPS eliminated the Relocation Leave policy effective August 17, 2009 as part of major changes to Handbook F-15-A, Relocation Policy — Nonbargaining (EAS) Employees
- Relocation leave is eliminated.
2-5.1 Relocation Leave
You are eligible for a maximum of up to five days of relocation leave (code 80). This leave is in addition to any other authorized travel time. It may be taken consecutively or as individual days but must be used by the time you settle into your new home. An actual physical move of the employee’s household is a requirement for eligibility for relocation leave. Your spouse may be eligible for relocation leave if the following conditions are met:
• Employed by the Postal Service.
• Moving with you.
• Awarded a position competitively.
• Successful candidate for a bid position at the new location if a bargaining employee.
Note: Not applicable to external hires or if transferring from another government agency.
In 2009 USPS OIG issued an Audit Report on Postal Service’s Relocation Policy. The OIG found
In CY 2008, the Postal Service spent $73 million for relocation benefits for more than 2,000 employees.3 In our view, some of the relocations that occurred during this period were exorbitant. In one instance, the Postal Service paid over $1.9 million to relocate a vehicle maintenance program analyst intrastate. The majority of this cost came from a $1.7 million loss on the sale of this employee’s home.
In another instance, as cited by the national media, the Postal Service paid $1.2 million to purchase an employee’s home through its real estate management firm. The revised February 2009 relocation procedures (including the $1 million home purchase ceiling)were not in place at the time the employee took a lateral transfer and relocated from South Carolina to Texas. The Postal Service has paid over $75,000 to date to move this employee. This includes $16,075 for the employee and his spouse to take a house hunting trip, including per diem and temporary living expenses. These costs were paid using a lump sum reimbursement process.
Although USPS issued revised relocation policies on August 13, 2009 the OIG recommended:
Consequently, until such policies associated with vacancy announcements and benefit limits are implemented and the Postal Service’s financial situation improves, we believe the Postal Service should consider freezing its relocation benefits program.
OIG Report On USPS Health and Safety Program
OIG found in some locations that safety was not always a priority to management
Highlights of the USPS OIG audit:
Previously, the Postal Service, as a federal agency, was exempt from private sector provisions of the OSH Act. When PESEA became effective, the Postal Service became fully subject to the OSH Act. This gave OSHA jurisdiction over the Postal Service in matters relating to employee safety and health and required the Postal Service to comply with OSHA standards and regulations. If violations occur, OSHA may cite or fine the Postal Service or, in extreme cases, refer the agency for criminal prosecution. Read more
OIG: USPS Should Offer eMailboxes To Consumers
An Opportunity for the Postal Service?
Out of 23 posts in industrialized countries, the U.S. Postal Service is one of the few remaining posts not offering an eMailbox solution to its citizens. And while there are private sector technology industry standouts in the U.S. that have developed widely popular e-mail and secure storage services, their business models sacrifice consumer privacy in the interest of ad-based revenue generation.
In an increasingly digital world, it may make sense for the Postal Service to offer eMailbox services in addition to traditional delivery. A consumer would also be able to sign up for an accompanying highly secure data storage area service called the eLockbox, which would provide added security for the archiving of important legal and personal documents with anytime, anywhere secure access. Today many electronic documents, especially financial records, reside primarily on the banks or billers Web site and not with the consumer.
Offering eMailboxes to Consumers: An Opportunity for the Postal Service? | USPS OIG:
OIG Recommends Outsourcing USPS Custodial and Motor Vehicle Jobs
Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) asks the OIG to review savings if USPS did not have to comply with McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act (SCA) of 1965.
WHY THE OIG DID THE AUDIT:
The report responds to a request from Representative Darrell E. Issa. Our objective was to review Postal Service’s market research to determine if potential savings could be realized if they did not have to comply with the SCA. In addition, we identified positions for which Postal Service labor rates exceeded the SCA rates and barriers to outsourcing those positions. Read more
USPS OIG: Decoupling as a Strategy to Improve Both Retail and Delivery
From the USPS OIG:
The Postal Service has “coupled” its retail and delivery operations, both managerially and physically, since delivery services were first established almost 150 years ago. Historical patterns, or the needs for delivery service efficiencies, primarily determined the location of physical facilities, which typically house both delivery and retail operations.
The Office of the Inspector General, Risk Analysis Research Center strategically studied the concept of “decoupling” the Postal Service’s Delivery and Retail’s physical and managerial functions. The results appear in the recently released whitepaper titled Retail and Delivery: Decoupling Could Improve Service and Lower Costs. The whitepaper drew upon the insights of key stakeholders, private sector delivery companies within the United States, foreign postal operators, and expert business consultants. The study found that selective decoupling retail and delivery, mostly outside of rural areas, could result in lower costs, increased revenue, and improved service that is more responsive to changing market conditions and customer needs that differ across the country.
Some portions of the report:
Delivery and Retail Interdependencies Are Unnecessary in the Long Term
Although co-locating retail and delivery operations in the same facility is common, their operational co-dependencies are actually few and relatively minor; rather they result largely from tradition. The major interdependency between retail and delivery operations that does exist involves shared clerk work hours. Clerks often serve both the retail window and also engage in back-office tasks such as unloading trucks and distributing mail to carriers and Post Office Boxes™. On an average day, about one third of a clerk’s work hours are used to perform “customer facing” duties, such as selling products and services at the retail window.6 The remaining hours are devoted to “back office” and administrative functions. These shared work hours seem to exist primarily to address the lack of flexibility in retail clerk hours. There is no inherent business need to have retail co-located with delivery. If reasonably increased workforce flexibility is allowed (by allowing some retail clerks to work a half day, for example), the business need for coupling could effectively disappear. The recently approved contract with the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) introduced new scheduling flexibility7 for career employees that might support this change.
OIG: USPS Had More Than 3.4 Billion Delayed Mailpieces During Fall 2010
…a 37 percent increase over the same period last year. We have referred three instances of intentional misreporting of delayed mail to the Office of Investigations over the past several years.
Mailers expressed concerns over the substantial amount of delayed Standard Mail® and Periodicals during the 2010 Fall Mailing Season.
Approximately 95 percent of this delayed mail was Standard Mail. This adversely impacted service and resulted in approximately $10.9 million in revenue at risk. Factors contributing to this condition included failure to adjust mail flow, sort plans, and staffing to meet operational changes, particularly when implementing consolidations and realignments. We identified a very small amount of stand-by time (or idle time) during this period; thus, it appears the vast majority of employees were engaged in processing mail. Contributing factors also included underestimating mail volumes, underutilizing machines, not consistently color-coding mail, and not accurately identifying and reporting delayed mail. We have referred three instances of intentional misreporting of delayed mail to the Office of Investigations over the past several years.
OIG Report: Postal Service Performance During the 2010 Fall Mailing Season (PDF)
OIG Says USPS Lowered 2009 Pay for Performance Scores To Save money
The Office of Inspector General for the U. S. Postal Service has issued an audit report on the 2009 Pay- for-Performance program. On August 27, 2010 NAPUS and the League filed a joint letter to the OIG requesting their assistance with an investigation into Postmasters’ 2009 Pay-for-Performance program’s final core requirement ratings and appeals. Our request for an investigation was not based simply on reduced monetary payouts due to manipulation of the program. Rather, we requested this investigation based on the failure of the U.S. Postal Service to comply with the administrative rules of the PFP. It appears from the OIG’s report that the OIG found that the Postal Service did fail to comply with the rules. Read more
OIG: More Early Retirements Would Create Additional Cost Savings For USPS
But….
From the Office Of Inspector General:
The single largest Postal Service expense after compensation is purchased transportation. In 2010, the Postal Service spent $5.9 billion moving mail between cities with contracted highway, air, rail, and water transportation.
Overall, offering more early retirements for eligible employees would create additional cost savings. For retiree health benefits, there would be little total savings. Generally,the Postal Service would have to pay more for FEHB premiums in retirement but it would save on premium costs for the employee. As the Postal Service pays a greater share of premium payments for employees than the rest of the federal government (discussed earlier in this paper), it would save as Postal Service retirees pay premiums according to federal rates. The problem, however, is how to incentivize further buyouts
that the Postal Service cannot afford to offer in its current financial state.
Labor expenses are also affected by the way the Postal Service utilizes labor. Table 1 shows the number of Postal Service employees by category in 2010 and 2000. Since 2000, the Postal Service has shed over 200,000 career employees (26 percent), and has experienced an 18 percent drop in volume while increasing the number of delivery points by 10 percent. The top four employee categories by size are still city carriers,clerks, rural carriers, and mail handlers, although they have switched order since 2000 as some new automation and efforts to optimize the network have further reduced the complement of clerks.
As mail volume declines, the Postal Service has made a great effort to reduce its employee complement. This has been aided by the high number of retirement eligible employees in the postal workforce. The number of career employees has declined by more than 100,000 from 2006. In 2009, the Postal Service offered retirement incentives According to the Postal Service, that early retirement offer saved the organization nearly $350 million.26 Postal commentators have advocated for even more aggressive efforts to reduce the number of employees.
These retirements raise the question of what effect early retirement has on the Postal Service’s retirement obligations. Table 2 offers some insight into this issue. It describes the effect on both current employee costs and future retirement obligations, which it is assumed the Postal Service will have to fund fully at some point. The assumption is that employees who retire early are not replaced by new employees. The effect of pension increases versus salary increases is also not considered. Employees who retire earlier typically receive a smaller annuity. However, retirees receive automatic pension increases based on inflation in retirement. If these inflation increases are greater than 100,000 from 2006.In 2009, the Postal Service offered retirement incentives to certain employees, and more than 20,000 clerks and mail handlers took advantage.25 According to the Postal Service, that early retirement offer saved the organization nearly $350 million.26 Postal commentators have advocated for even more aggressive efforts to reduce the number of employees.These retirements raise the question of what effect early retirement has on the Postal Service’s retirement obligations. Table 2 offers some insight into this issue
OIG Report: USPS Could Save $Billions By Eliminating Door-To-Door Delivery
OIG: USPS does not require Congressional approval for this policy change. USPS could save $$Billions more by converting curbside delivery into centralized delivery.
USPS OIG Audit Report – Modes of Delivery (Report Number DR-AR-11-006)
Notwithstanding these limitations, the Postal Service should develop a comprehensive
strategic plan to aggressively move from existing door-to-door delivery to curbside
delivery, which could save more than $4.5 billion a year. Future strategies should also
evaluate savings opportunities associated with conversion of curbside to centralized
delivery — which could save the Postal Service an additional $5.1 billion — and
mandate centralized delivery for new delivery points.
This strategic plan would significantly reduce delivery costs and could be implemented
internally through policy changes. It would not require congressional approval, unlike
other significant cost-savings initiatives, such as moving from 6- to 5-day delivery. At the
same time, these changes would increase fairness and consistency of service to
customers, as curbside delivery would be the primary delivery mode.
OIG Audit Of USPS Web-Based Program Used For Closing Post Offices
Filed under: audits, oig, post offices, postal, postal news, usps
USPS OIG audit report of the web-based application, the Change Suspension Discontinuance Center (CSDC) program, used for the discontinuance of Postal Service-operated retail facilities. According to OIG: “The CSDC program’s discontinuance process follows applicable federal law and Postal Service policies. By law, the Postal Service cannot close small POs solely for operating at a deficit.” Read more