US Post Office Decides Not To Measure Time

The United States Postal Service has been in the news of late for removing clocks from the nation's 37,000 post offices as part of their "retail standardization program." Most have interpreted this as a way to deal with long customer wait times; just stop measuring time. (The general strategy of dealing with a problem by pretending it is not there seems to be getting more popular of late in the US, but that's a topic for a different blog.) We can't help but note the irony: Ignoring time in a service sector that puts a premium on timely delivery ("When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.")?

Here at The Measurement Standard we tend to agree with Aldous Huxley, who said: “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”

It is our mission to promote the use of measurement, research and a logical approach to problem solving. So, if the USPS does have a problem with customer wait times, we suggest they take an approach opposite to that of removing clocks: Put in better clocks. They could install clocks that will measure customer wait times in a way that will communicate to customers just how little they have to wait, or how well the USPS is improving it's customer service. Imagine a little clock by the counter that says, "You have waited only 4.5 minutes to reach the counter, that's an improvement of .5 minutes over last year's average wait." As another great 20th Century intellectual almost put it: "Time is on your side, yes it is."