Postal Service pays less for employees to sit around

The U.S. Postal Service is paying fewer employees to do nothing than in previous years, but stand-by time still cost the agency $4.3 million in the first half of fiscal 2011, according to a new audit.

USPS guarantees work hours for some employees, including clerks represented by the American Postal Workers Union and carriers represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers, whether or not there are sufficient tasks to keep them busy. For these employees, stand-by time is recorded during planned periods as well as for unplanned, low-work volume days or other events such as equipment breakdowns.

In an Aug. 12 report, the Postal Service inspector general found that USPS paid workers $22 million for 875,540 hours of downtime in fiscal 2010 compared to nearly $31 million for 1.3 million hours in the previous year. Stand-by time has declined during the past two years due to factors including job cuts to align the agency's staff more closely with workload and retirements, according to the IG.

USPS is still paying workers for their downtime, however. In the first six months of this year, employees logged 170,666 stand-by hours at a cost of $4.3 million. The audit also found that managers at processing and distribution facilities in Dallas and Detroit did not accurately monitor and record employee stand-by hours, resulting in excess overtime charges.

"At a time when the Postal Service is challenged to operate more efficiently, monitoring stand-by time is critical to ensuring their ability to effectively manage the workforce," the IG wrote.

USPS lost $5.7 billion through the third quarter of fiscal 2011 and expects to reach its statutory borrowing limit in September while defaulting on several obligations to the federal government.