What could go wrong with mail?

Permit me a story: A man out walking his dog comes upon a road crew landscaping a newly laid freeway. He watches person No. 1 dig a hole with person No. 2 following to fill it up. Hole after hole is dug and hole after hole is immediately filled. After watching the crew do this a dozen times and more, he goes to them and asks them what’s the deal. No. 1 digs a hole and No. 2 fills it up. Person No. 2 says he’s not No. 2, but rather No. 3. No. 2 called in sick. He has the trees. But, they’ve complied perfectly with their job descriptions: No. 1 digs the holes, and No. 3 fills them. They’re proud of their work and their boss is proud of his metrics. They both start and finish on time. They both leave the barn and come back on time. The only thing wrong is no trees get planted.

Do we see a parallel with our postal system and our new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy? He’s a logistics kind of guy for whom metrics are everything. Can’t blame him; it’s in his genes. He can’t help it. He cannot not measure. There’s an old experimental psychology adage: Tell me what you’re going to measure, and I’ll show you how I’m going to behave.

DeJoy proudly reports that his postal drivers leave their distribution plants and return on time, no overtime permitted. Gotta cut costs. Logistics, right?

But due to COVID-19 sick calls, staff are missing and the trucks are not fully loaded. Postal workers report many delivery trucks leave almost empty. Mail is regularly left behind and it piles up. And delivered later, and later, and later, if at all. But his metrics are good. Except that timely mail delivery, according to his very own charts and graphs, has fallen nearly to zero. His staff, though, arrive and depart exactly on time. Same with trucks. But the mail doesn’t. Some trucks leave only partially loaded. Timely, but half empty. Remember, no overtime. He cherry picks his metrics, and late mail doesn’t figure in.

He’s a “costs” kind of guy as well. And where better to cut than overtime? Who cares if mail gets delayed? He’s gotta cut costs. That, too, is in his genes. Remember, costs as well are a metric, and he’s all about metrics. Late mail is a stark metric he doesn’t care about. So, he ignores it. Gotta cherry pick the right metrics to look good, and late mail doesn’t look good.

We’ll remove high speed sorters, too, and mail drop boxes. After all, if mail isn’t timely collected and brought into the distribution plants, we can’t be blamed for delays. More COVID-19? More sick calls. That metric’s not in my control, and it’s a soft one anyway. We can explain it away. Blame COVID-19. Remember, no overtime. New Hampshire’s only high-speed sorter got removed? Golly. Well, too late, it’s been scrapped out. Dang. Gotta sort by hand. Get busy guys. And remember, no overtime.

Mail’s late? Social Security and disability checks late? Welfare and SNAP benefits late? Medications late? Medical appointment approvals late? Surgical and other treatment approvals late? Medicare and Medicaid late? Utility and power bills late? Service cut off? Dang again. Telephone disconnected? Double dang. Can’t measure those piddly little things. Can’t get a snappy clean metric on those. Never mind that people die or go without food and other medical and survival necessities. I’ll tell you what the important metrics are, says DeJoy. And those things aren’t.

What could possibly go wrong with this state of affairs under DeJoy’s leadership?