FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — In a recently released audit of the Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center (RPDC) in Palmetto, federal officials report the location continues to face challenges.
The first main finding of the audit, which was released on Tuesday, showed that there are ongoing issues with the design of the plant.
"The Atlanta RPDC continues to struggle operating as designed due to space constraints and higher than expected package volumes that impacted processing capacity," the report says.
Channel 2 Action News has been reporting on issues at the facility since its February 2024 opening, and the subsequent delays in mail delivery and services for Georgia residents.
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The July audit report release goes into detail about performance at the Palmetto facility compared to the rest of the postal service, as well as what improvements have been made since issues began.
As far as the service itself, the audit said “the Postal Service improved service performance at the Atlanta RPDC; however, performance is still below nationwide averages and well below goals. Operations run smoothly at times, but at other times the facility cannot handle the volume of mail and trailers it receives and remains one adverse event away from gridlock.”
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The audit’s findings show that the layout and design of the 1 million square foot facility are contributing to operational problems.
“The facility continues to experience challenges related to the layout and space needs, management oversight and workplace culture, and transportation,” the report reads.
According to the audit, more than $16 million were highlighted as “questioned costs” in the plant’s operations.
The report said that while delivery of mail had improved, all of the scores for products remain below targets and below the levels they were achieving before the launch of the regional facility.
Some of the mail processing backlog is also said to come from a demonstrated inability to process mail and packages at the rate they arrive, also adding costs and delaying mail arrivals to customers.
The report from the USPS Office of Inspector General says that while the management has a plan in place to improve operations, OIG does not believe it will be enough to address the mail volume issues.
The plan also did not address contingencies for incidents such as weather impacts or equipment failures, among other adverse events.
Additionally, “insufficient supervision and a poor employee work culture continued to negatively impact operations, delaying mail processing” at the facility, according to the audit.
The report said a general inattention to detail resulted in mail left on or around machines and that employees were not actively working or following workplace rules. Employees remained not properly supervised, a carryover from the previous audit, according to the OIG.
Improper oversight added concern, with OIG saying there was $8 million in questioned costs due to facility managers not approving about 178,000 overtime hours and 4,000 penalty overtime hours.
The audit said that trash not being disposed of remains an issue throughout the facility, as well.
Staffing is also a problem for operations, with OIG reporting 20% of employees expected to be on site each day are not showing up. The report also noted an “ad hoc cardboard shelter used to shield employees from view for extended breaks,” and packages overflowing to the floor.
Safety issues like cords on the ground and broken equipment are also not addressed.
Generally, the OIG audit of the Palmetto distribution center noted a continuing pushback from management regarding their recommendations for improvements.
Of the eight recommendations OIG made for operational changes, the postal service managers are said to have disagreed, only agreed in part or did not respond, leaving certain requirements of the OIG to close the audit unsatisfied.
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