Legislative branch appropriations for 1984

Mr. GUTHRIE. The Honorable Robert V. Rota is here. Mr. ROTA. Mr. Chairman, I have with me my Deputy, Elmo Boydston and Tom Claire.

Mr. Chairman, it is a privilege to appear before you once again in support of appropriations for the Office of the Postmaster. The total appropriation requested for the Office of the Postmaster for fiscal year 1984 is $1,845,000. This figure represents an increase of $76,000 over last year's appropriation of $1,769,000 to cover mandatory cost-of-living and longevity salary increases.

DECREASE IN INCOMING MAIL VOLUME

Last year incoming mail volume was down as compared with the preceding year for the first time during my service as your Postmaster.

In retrospect, I believe that the mail volume in calendar year 1982 reflects a return to more traditional growth rates. While the total 1982 volume is 145 million, about 15 million items lower than in 1981, the fact is that calendar year 1981 was a highly unusual year in which we experienced an unprecedented wave of citizen interest as the new administration took office and initiated a number of budget and tax proposals that provoked many more Americans than usual to write their congressmen.

In fact, in 1981 we saw incoming mail volume jump by about one third, from 120 million items in 1980 to 160 million in 1981.

While the 1982 level is reduced as compared with 1981, it reflects an increase of 25 million as compared with 1980.

1981 was an unusual year in that the President asked the people to write their congressmen. We received in one day 1,250,000 letters, 800,000 postcards, another 800,000 mailgrams, nearly 600,000 pie plates, and other material sent to members of Congress. Mr. FAZIO. Those didn't have cream in them, did they?

Mr. ROTA. No, they were asking to save the school lunch program.

Following the next three weeks, we received over and above the normal mail volume for the House nearly a quarter of a million pieces daily. I believe this really reflects the increase

Mr. HIGHTOWER. Mr. Chairman, may I interrupt? How does this compare to any past record? Is this an all-time high?

Mr. ROTA. Yes, sir. 1981 was the highest we ever received, 160 million. When I was first elected in 1972, mail volume was only 40.6 million pieces of incoming mail.

Mr. HIGHTOWER. Per year?

Mr. ROTA. Yes. It is almost four times that today. Now it is 145 million.

That is actually an increase of 25 million over 1980 with the standard growth, or a reduction of 15 million compared with 1981. We are going to witness another record this year. For the past three weeks, the pace has been unbelievable. It has been tremendous. You, as members, can vouch for the volume you are receiving.

Mr. HIGHTOWER. I probably was contributing more than anyone else.

INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY WITH VERY LITTLE PERSONNEL GROWTH

Mr. ROTA. All of this has been done, Mr. Chairman, with only a ten percent increase in our personnel over the ten years. We have a total of 108 employees.

Mr. FAZIO. How have you been able to make those productivity gains with that volume increase and a relatively small increase in personnel?

Mr. ROTA. By reclassifying and retraining the employees_on proper methods of handling the mail. It is a memory game. The employees actually enjoy their work. They sort by buildings, buildings to floors, floors to members.

Mr. FAZIO. Is it the internal organization of the office?

Mr. ROTA. Yes, sir. It is unique that we have 500 boxes with tremendous volumes of mail coming to the members. In cities, by comparison, they would have these tremendous volumes and would have to have hundreds of people to deliver this volume of mail to thousands of boxes.

DELIVERY PROCEDURES TO THE POSTMASTER

In addition, the mail has changed in the past decade. The procedure in which the mail is delivered to the Postmaster has changed. Years ago we received all the mail from the Postal Service. It was delivered to us by trucks and worked individually. If a campaign was going on with respect to particular legislation, citizens mailed individual letters. Today the groups are more organized, with the computers and other material they have access to in these large mailers, they collect everything in boxes and ship it to us by Greyhound, airlines, and by other means with proper postage af fixed, many cartons containing 5,000 letters or more.

Today Social Security is a controversial issue and we are receiving two tubloads of mail four times a day.

Mr. FAZIO. Since it is organized, comes in bulk form, are you able to handle it more easily?

Mr. ROTA. Yes, sir. It is much easier to handle. You receive uniform cards and other materials that are easier to process. You are familar with that.

Mr. FAZIO. Yes.

POST OFFICE HAS UNIQUE DUTIES

Mr. ROTA. Unlike the other officers of the House, our work is a little different because we have to work with people in the field making it a little bit difficult. But through the cooperation of Postmaster General Bolger and his staff, particularly Paul Van Cove

master courier services to the White House, Social Security Administration and Library of Congress. Neither do the Postal Service figures reflect the multitude of Government Printing Office items ranging from Congressional Records to calendars that are delivered by the Office of the Postmaster.

Despite the fact that Postal Service figures represent only a fraction of the mail handled by the Office of the Postmaster, these statistics are included in the tables and charts attached to my statement. I hope that in using them, we do not create confusion. However, the cost of performing hard counts of mail received-both in terms of delayed delivery and dollars expended-make use of Postal Service figures

necessary.

OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER EMPLOYEES

The Office of the Postmaster has 108 employees. As I have indicated, 94 of these are classified as mail handlers and include the men and women who sort and deliver the mail, as well as the clerks who staff our five full-service stations. In addition, we employ eight mail security scanners who operate the sophisticated X-Ray and radiation detection equipment that is used to check all incoming mail for explosive or otherwise dangerous articles or materials. Our Administrative Staff consists of Deputy Postmaster, Elmo Boydston; Assistants to the Postmaster for Operations Management, Richard Sardegna and Tom Claire; Supervisor of Accounts, Mary Bowman; Office Manager, Joanna O'Rourke; Secretary, Nancy Auerbach; Receptionist, Debbie Hamilton; Clerks, Patricia Doherty and Charles Ellis.'

OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER OPERATIONS

In order to process the flood of mail received by the House of Representatives, we operate 22 hours a day. The first shift arrives at Midnight to coincide with the first of the four daily mail deliveries we receive from the U.S. Postal Service. As I mentioned earlier, there are numerous additional deliveries each day from sources other than the Postal Service. The mail processing unit usually closes at 10:00 p.m., but remains in operation longer if necessary to process all mail on hand. This policy insures that no backlog develops that would delay delivery to your offices. On the average, incoming mail is delivered to your offices within four hours of the time it arrives at the loading dock at the Longworth Building. A similar effort is made to expedite outgoing mail. We collect outgoing mail from all floors and mail chutes seven times daily, Monday through Friday and five times on Saturday; it is then dispatched to the U.S. Postal Service every hour on the hour from 2:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. during the week and from 4:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. These schedules are only for mail handled by the Postal Service and do not include our special courier services to and from the Library of Congress, the Social Security Administration and so forth. Our full-service counters operate from 8:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and from 8:30 to 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Holidays.

SUMMARY OF ATTACHED CHARTS AND TABLES

Mr. Chairman, to provide the Committee with the maximum amount of data about our operations, I have attached to my statement six items for your review. Attachment 1 describes the 17 new services implemented since I became Postmaster in 1972. Attachments 2, 3, and 4 reflect detailed Postal Service figures on incoming mail. Attachment 5 reports money orders and fees by Station for 1977 through 1982. Attachment 6 reports Express Mail for 1978 through 1982.

House Post Office stations and stamp windows sold postage stamps totaling $1,571,000 in 1982. This figure compares with stamp window sales of $1,562,681 in 1981 and $1,061,698 in 1980.

CONCLUSION

Mr. Chairman, I am grateful for this opportunity to appear today. Obviously, I am proud of the job the Office of the Postmaster is doing and the progress that we have made since 1972. I will continue to do everything in my power to improve the speed and quality of our services, as I know how important mail service is to our representative form of Government.

Thank you.

NEW SERVICES

1. Full counter service. In 1972, the House Post Office commenced full-counter services in all House Office Buildings enabling Members and Staff to purchase

Last year, incoming mail volume was down as compared with the preceding year for the first time during my service as your Postmaster. In retrospect, I believe that the mail volume in Calendar Year 1982 reflects a return to more traditional growth rates. While the total 1982 volume is 145 million, about 15 million items lower than in 1981, the fact is that Calendar Year 1981 was a highly unusual year in which we experienced an unprecedented wave of citizen interest as the new Administration took office and initiated a number of budget and tax proposals that provoked many more Americans than usual to write their Congressmen. In fact, in 1981 we saw incoming mail volume jump by about one-third-from 120 million items in 1980 to 160 million in 1981. While the 1982 level is reduced as compared with 1981, therefore, it reflects an increase of 25 million as compared with 1980.

Since I was elected as your Postmaster in 1972, the volume of incoming mail has almost quadrupled, (from 40 million to 145 million items per year) the number of buildings served has increased by 50 percent (from four to six), the number of mail stops served has grown by 61 percent (from 630 to 1,016), and we have added a total of 16 new services. Because the increased workload had, for almost a decade, been accommodated without any increase in the number of mail handlers (85 positions in 1972 and in 1981), we found it necessary in 1981 to add additional employees to deal with the floodtide of mail received that year. I am proud, however, that we have been able to handle the increased demands placed upon us over the past decade with less than a 10 percent increase in the number of employees handling mail. Had it not been for increased productivity, we would today require the services of more than 300 mail handlers rather than the 94 presently authorized.

Based on my experience over the past decade, I expect mail volume to continue to grow, but feel we are unlikely to again see the type of jump that occurred between 1980 and 1981. I believe, therefore, that we will not require additional resources during Fiscal Year 1984.

There are several reasons for the increase in mail volume over the past decade. One is the development of direct mail operations by organizations seeking to influence Congressional action. Such organizations have learned that Members of Congress pay careful attention to mail received from their constituents. As a result, virtually every organization interested in issues before the Congress now urges its members to write their representatives in Washington. In addition to encouraging people to write, organizations often collect such correspondence and deliver it in bulk to the House of Representatives.

There are, of course, other factors involved in the growth in Congressional mail. One of the most important and most often overlooked is the activity of Members of Congress themselves. Members today are doing more and working harder than ever before. Because such activity attracts attention and comment, and because Members now return more frequently to their districts, it is not surprising that the volume of constituent mail reflects this increased activity and improved accessibility.

CHANGING NATURE OF CONGRESSIONAL MAIL AND MAIL VOLUME STATISTICS

In addition to the tremendous increase in mail volume, the past ten years have seen a significant change in the nature of incoming mail. A decade ago, most constituent mail arrived as individual cards and letters delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. As mentioned above, much of the incoming mail today arrives in bulk from organizations which deliver-directly to the Office of the Postmaster-cartons often containing thousands of cards and letters. Furthermore, mailers of newsletters and newspapers who in the past delivered individually addressed items to the Office of the Postmaster for distribution to certain Members now deliver a single box of such items with the request that we distribute them to all Congressional Offices.

The Office of the Postmaster, of course, does not object to these changes. In fact, current practice is more efficient in the long run as it is no added burden on us to sort and deliver such bulk mail-we must do this in any event. And for distributions going to all Members, it is much more efficient to place one copy of unaddressed newspapers in each Member's box than it is to sort 435 addressed items into each of the appropriate 435 boxes.

The one effect that these changes have had is to make U.S. Postal Service mail volume estimates increasingly irrelevant. Because most mail now arrives in bulksome delivered by the U.S. Postal Service and some by the United Parcel Service and air and bus lines-the Postal Service figures only show the tip of the iceberg. In fact, because Postal Service figures report a box of 50,000 letters as a single parcel unit, these statistics grossly undercount even that mail delivered through the facilities of the Postal Service. Of course, Postal Service figures do not include “Dear Colleague" and other inside mail or the mail handled through the Office of the Post

necessary.

OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER EMPLOYEES

OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER OPERATIONS

SUMMARY OF ATTACHED CHARTS AND TABLES

House Post Office stations and stamp windows sold postage stamps totaling $1,571,000 in 1982. This figure compares with stamp window sales of $1,562,681 in 1981 and $1,061,698 in 1980.

CONCLUSION

Thank you.

NEW SERVICES

1. Full counter service.— In 1972, the House Post Office commenced full-counter services in all House Office Buildings enabling Members and Staff to purchase

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