Mail Delivery, Customer Service, and Property Conditions Review – South Columbus (OH) Station
Background
This interim report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of mail delivery, customer service, and property conditions at the South Columbus Station in Columbus, OH (Project Number 22-043). The South Columbus Station is in the Ohio-2 District of the Central Area and services ZIP Code 432071 which serves about 45,1622 people and is considered an urban community. We judgmentally selected the South Columbus Station based on the number of customer inquiries per route that the unit received. From August 1 through October 31, 2021, the unit received 14.94 inquiries per route, which was more than the average of 7.60 inquiries per route for all sites serviced by the Columbus, OH, Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC).
Objective, Scope, and Methodology
Our objective was to evaluate mail delivery, customer service, and property conditions at the South Columbus Station in Columbus, OH.
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 from January 11-13, 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 February 24, 2022, and included their comments where appropriate.
The South Columbus Station is one of three delivery units the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed during the week of January 10, 2022, that are serviced by the Columbus P&DC. We issued this interim report to provide the Postal Service with timely information regarding the conditions we identified at the South Columbus Station. We will issue a separate report that provides the Postal Service with the overall findings and recommendations for all three delivery units.