NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A federal audit found thousands of delayed mailpieces and problems with package scanning and management oversight at Nashville’s Church Street Station.
The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General inspected the facility in July. The station serves about 22,000 people in several Nashville ZIP codes.
Auditors found about 5,158 delayed mailpieces on the morning of July 14, including 2,847 letters and 2,311 flats. The audit said the mail had not been properly reported as delayed.
The audit also found problems with package scans. Between March and May, employees improperly scanned 176 packages at the station. About 73% of those were marked as delivered.
During the July inspection, auditors sampled 30 packages and found 21 had scanning or handling problems. Thirteen had already been marked as delivered before carriers arrived for the day.
Auditors also found problems with postal arrow keys, which carriers use to access mail receptacles. Records were inaccurate, some keys were not properly secured and one key listed as in use was missing.
The audit also found an inactive employee remained on the station’s rolls and identified two unauthorized premium fuel purchases totaling $133.53.
The Postal Service agreed with all five findings and said management had begun taking corrective action, including more training, compliance reviews and tighter oversight of key inventories and fuel purchases.
September 11, 2001 is a day most associate with terror and tragedy. Austin Pollack shares a story from that day about hope and persistence: the effort to save a little girl’s life – with an organ donation. The problem? The young patient was in Houston, and her life-saving liver here in Nashville. With the grounding of all civilian aircraft, how could it be done? “Nobody ever said this isn’t possible.”
- Rhori Johnston
