all post offices in US must remove their clocks

[donsu]

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/16804945.htm


Long time, no see: Post offices hide their clocks


The clocks are disappearing from the nation’s post offices.

It’s no conspiracy or science fiction-inspired mystery, but a quietly executed program by the U.S. Postal Service to take down all timepieces from retail areas of the country’s 37,000 post offices.

“Well, they’ve been removed,” confirmed Stephen Seewoester, a Dallas spokesman for the Postal Service, which is an independent agency of the federal government’s executive branch. “We want people to focus on postal service and not the clock.”

-snip-

"It’s silly,” said Leonard Berry, a professor who holds the M.B. Zale Chair in Retailing and Marketing Leadership and whose papers include “The Time-Buying Consumer.” “I guess they think people don’t have watches.

“Removing the clocks is actually removing a service,” Berry said. “Research consistently shows people think they wait in line longer than they actually do whether there’s a clock there or not. It’s better to invest in making sure the wait time is shorter by improving operational efficiencies.”

-snip-

But Janelle Barlow, a Las Vegas-based branding and customer-service consultant, praised clock-free post offices as a way to keep customers happy.

“Why shouldn’t the post office be able to use the same strategy I might admire in another organization?” asked Barlow, who noted that casinos learned long ago that getting rid of clocks encourages people to stay longer. “It makes so much sense.
-snip-
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can you say manipulation?

[babylonsister]

1. A way to keep customers happy??? It usually takes me 20+ minutes to

get through to a clerk in the p.o. because the lines are always so long. And yes, I watch(ed) the clock in the p.o., as do others while our frustration grows.

[swimboy]

2. Wow, problem solved!

:sarcasm:

Is Halliburton making money off the Postal Service yet?

[Joe Chi Minh]

4. Give them time.

[blondie58]

8. nope

the Post Office is a self-supporting entity- they are supposed to earn their pay through their products and services sold.

now, if it IS ever privatized, you can count on paying a lot more and having worse service.

One of the Post Offices flaws, imho- is the militaristic way that it is run. I can say that, being a postal employee.

[rocktivity]

3. Sure it makes sense for casinos--the longer you stay, the more of your money

they're likely to get.

But remove the clocks in a post office so you don't realize how long you've been waiting? They'd rather do that than improve the service? Downright pathetic.

:eyes:
rocknation

[Rosemary2205]

5. Social security and the VA don't have clocks either.

Don't ask me why they think those 6-8 hr waits to be called go so much better if you have no idea what time it is.

[cspanlovr]

6. I was at publix yesterday, and noticed they had taken down their clock.

I know its not a post office, but when I saw your thread, I had to click. I go there often enough, and there was always a clock over the door. No more. It's a disservice to the customers, and I'm going to say something the next time I'm there.

[donsu]

7. I'll have to look at our Publics next time I go there

in WinnDixie I check the clock in the bank that's near the checkout counters. will have to see if that is still there.

how insane america has become.

[European Socialist]

9. Sounds like a Smirk/Repuke " feel good" solution.

[A Simple Game]

10. I wonder how much that study cost us? n/t

[merh]

11. the same type of mental manipulation used by casinos

no clocks or windows so that the patrons aren't distracted or aware of the time spent gambling.

They are also cutting down on the times they are open to the public, its rather pathetic. Some private corporation will come in and provide the services the Post Office once provided and will profit, making it obsolete. Maybe that's the plan.

Corporate manipulation.

disgusting.

[Speck Tater]

12. In some locations it's pointless

I've spent a lot of time in the post office sending ebay packages. My closest post office is big enough to have dock space for 34 semi truck trailers and, except for April 15th, and during a few days just before Christmas, I've never waited more then 2 minutes in line.