Background

This interim report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of mail delivery, customer service, and property conditions at the Linwood Station in Indianapolis, IN (Project Number 22-087). The Linwood Station is in the Indiana District of the Central Area and services ZIP Code 46201, which serves about 30,926 people and is considered an urban community. We judgmentally selected the Linwood Station based on the number of customer inquiries per route the unit received. From November 1, 2021, through January 31, 2022, the unit received 22 inquiries per route, which was more than the average of 7.36 inquiries per route for all sites serviced by the Indianapolis Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC).

Objective, Scope, and Methodology

Our objective was to evaluate mail delivery, customer service, and property conditions at the Linwood Station in Indianapolis, IN.

To accomplish our objective, we focused on these four audit areas: delayed mail, package scanning, truck arrival scans, and property conditions. Specifically, we reviewed delivery metrics including the number of routes and carriers, mail arrival time, amount of reported delayed mail, package scanning, and distribution up-time. During our site visit the week of March 14, 2022, we reviewed mail conditions; package and truck arrival scanning procedures; and unit safety, security, and maintenance conditions. We also analyzed the scan status of mailpieces at the carrier cases and in the “Notice Left” area and interviewed unit management and employees. We discussed our observations and conclusions as summarized in Table 1 with management on April 29, 2022, and included their comments where appropriate.

The Linwood Station is one of three delivery units the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed during the week of March 14, 2022, that are serviced by the Indianapolis P&DC. We issued this interim report to provide the U.S. Postal Service with timely information regarding the conditions we identified at the Linwood Station. We will issue a separate report that provides the Postal Service with the overall findings and recommendations for all three delivery units. See Appendix A for additional information about our scope and methodology.