Unfriendly workers could cost the Postal Service, watchdog warns

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As the U.S. Postal Service continues to try to remain relevant by looking for new ways to get Americans to actually use any of its services, a new audit out from USPS’s Office of the Inspector General offers some bad — if not so surprising — news for the agency: Americans think it’s failing to deliver on customer service.

According to the OIG audit, Postal Service workers handled 1.7 billion retail transactions in fiscal year 2013. And while that certainly sounds like a lot of stamps bought and postage paid in USPS retail locations throughout the nation, it’s 5.2 percent fewer than the year before.

The OIG says the drop in customer loyalty correlates to a simultaneous 8.7 percent increase in negative customer feedback about retail experiences at the post office.

“While the Postal Service’s goal is 90 percent customer satisfaction, we found that more than 20 percent of its customers in FY 2013 responded to the POS [Point of Service] survey that they have been treated ‘worse than other retailers’ when visiting Postal Service retail counters,” the audit said.

According to the OIG audit, Americans feel that Postal Service workers are coming up short when it comes to treating people as valued customers (24.9 percent), being pleasant (21.5 percent) and friendly (20 percent), as well as treating customers with courtesy (20.5 percent) and respect (20.3 percent).

In fact, a word cloud accompanying the audit illustrated that the top phrase used in complaints about the USPS was “rude.”

“Dissatisfied customers exist, in part, because procedures for improving customer service are not functioning as intended,” the OIG said.

Those procedures aren’t functioning, the audit contends, because the Postal Workers Union makes it too difficult to staff retail positions with employees who interact well with the public.

“The agreement between the Postal Service and the union representing sales associates dictates that the Postal Service must select most sales associates through a seniority-based bidding process,” the OIG said. “Because the Postal Service is bound by this agreement, management has limited flexibility in staffing sales associate positions. However, it can build the desired customer service skills and behavior through continual, formal training.”

According to the watchdog, failing to correct the customer service problems could cause the already struggling Postal Service to lose $288.5 million in revenues this year.

USPS has dismissed the report, saying that the OIG numbers “likely grossly overstates the number of customers who would actually choose a different provider” because of lacking customer service.

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Sam Rolley

After covering news and politics for traditional media outlets, Sam Rolley took a position at Personal Liberty Media Group where he focuses on his true passions: national politics and liberty issues. In his daily columns and reports, Rolley works to help readers recognize lies perpetuated by the mainstream media and develop a better understanding of issues ignored by more conventional outlets. Follow him on Twitter @SamRolley