On tuesday I read a CC:mail from the district office which said the cost of correcting the bug is expected to cost the PO 100 to 200 million over plan(budget.) There have been function 4 teams(Postalese for efficiency auditors) making massive cuts in staffing and all non esential travel for training and non esential training is of now stopped. There is also a hiring freeze in effect to reduce the workforce by attrition.They have also stopped all out of district details(duty assignments which place a lower pay grade person in a higher pay grade for upgrading, on the job training if you will)to reduce per diem expences.

Most of the above measures happen during the course of the normal corporate year. The note worthy thing(to me at least) is all the cost cutting measures have occured within 2 weeks of each other.And usually this stuff doesn't happen until the summer which is third quarter of the fiscal year for us.That's usually when the bean counters can see how close we are to meeting the planned budget for the year.

I think someone had a light turn on somewhere and got the big picture.I hope their efforts work.

-- nine (nine_fingers@hotmail.com), April 01, 1999

Answers

There goes that surplus they used to have...... 33 cents going to become .34 next year?

-- Robert A Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (Cook.R@csaatl.com), April 01, 1999.

Thanks nine_fingers, these are the kind of behind the scenes reports that help us understand the depth of this problem.

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), April 01, 1999.