Post offices remove clocks

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http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/business/16809195.htm

Long time, no see: Post offices hide their clocks

By BARRY SHLACHTER
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

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."

Seewoester said the wholesale clock clearing is part of a "retail standardization program" launched last year that will give the public-service areas a more uniform appearance, whether the post office is in Fort Wayne or Fort Worth, "like Starbucks or a McDonald's."

A customer-service expert at Texas A&M University questioned the wisdom of taking down lobby clocks.

"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."

Even an improvement of 30 seconds would be perceived by customers as a minute or two faster, he said.

Keeping customers happy

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.

"You know, it's easy to bash the U.S. Postal Service," she said. "At an emotional level, removing clocks probably will not play well for patrons of the post office. [But] if it were Tiffany's, I'd probably think, 'How clever.'"

The Postal Service could use the time to acquaint its customers with new products, Barlow said. "And that's certainly a lot less expensive than advertising on CNN prime time."

'Psychology of Queuing'

Julie Baker, a marketing professor at Texas Christian University's Neeley School of Business, said the post office is not alone in following casinos' lead.

"A number of retail stores, grocery stores and banks have taken clocks down," Baker said.

Although she doesn't like the post office's move, Baker noted that some research supports the notion that taking down clocks distracts people from considering how long they've been waiting.

She cited papers with titles like "Perspectives on Queues: Social Justice and the Psychology of Queuing" and "Prescription for Waiting-in-Line Blues: Entertain, Enlighten and Engage."

"If you distract people from thinking about, or paying attention to, time passing, they perceive that it's less," Baker said. "But if I was running the post office, I would actually try to reduce the waiting time."

Measuring in nanoseconds

Online marketing specialist Miki Dzugan of Sedona, Ariz., agreed. She noted that Internet retailers measure their wait times in nanoseconds.

"Perhaps I am jaded," said Dzugan, president of Rapport Online. "I think removing the clocks as a remedy to keeping customers in line is right up there with the recorded message, 'Your call is important to us' played over and over on the phone while waiting for 'customer service.'"

As part of the standardization program, half of the Fort Worth region's post offices have received a face-lift, said Seewoester, the postal spokesman. The office at the Federal Building in downtown Fort Worth still has its clocks.

The Jack D. Watson Post Office, off Meacham Boulevard, has gotten its face-lift. It has new slatted wall fixtures to hold gift items such as stuffed animals and framed pictures of Elvis Presley and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as free mailing supplies. The floor tiling was changed to gray and dark gray. There's new red-white-and-blue striping along one wall. And the clock was removed.

'It's always long here'

At the post office at 2600 Eighth Ave., the wall clock was taken away months ago, but there's no sign of redecoration. The hook that once held up the small battery-powered clock protrudes from a now barren plastered wall.

At the Watson Post Office on a recent afternoon, several people standing in a line more than 10 deep said they don't remember the clock.

That didn't stop them from complaining about the wait.

"It's always long here," groused Al Cunningham, 49, of Fort Worth, who became an insurance adjuster after working 10 years for the post office.

When told that the clock was removed to coax customers to focus more attention on signs and service, Cunningham said: "That's bull. Look, do you see any sense of urgency?"

Also gone is a vinyl sticker promising service in five minutes or less. Seewoester said that was part of a discontinued service program.

So what's happened to all the lobby clocks?

Seewoester said they've been moved to other areas.

Inside the sprawling Watson postal complex, the Fort Worth marketing office has two clocks facing each other. So does the consumer affairs office across the hall.

"That's the one I look at," said Ron Armstrong, a consumer-affairs specialist, pointing to a small wall clock cracked down the middle.

[Raineyrocks]

Wow, this is so stupid. The government probraly spent a couple billion dollars doing a study on the effects of no clocks in post offices.

I wonder if people will be told to leave their watches in their cars?   I'm sure I'd have no idea the line was taking so long without a clock as I have no brain and sense of time passing, just kidding of course, before I get a blonde remark.

[error]

Wow, this is so stupid.

I agree. http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2007/03/05/post-offices-remove-clocks/

[penguins4me]

"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."

Someone's been in the smoking section too long, and some editor somewhere is asleep at the wheel. People who go to casinos like staying in casinos. I know of not one human who enjoys waiting in line at the post office.

[error]

Ever heard of masochism?

Somewhere there is bound to be a person who gets off on waiting in line at the post office.

[Raineyrocks]

know of not one human who enjoys waiting in line at the post office.

I love waiting in a line at the post office, I get to contemplate ideas of books I want to write, stare out of the window (uh,oh those will be next to go I guess, we might see that daylight has gone away while waiting), figure out what I want to do with my life and look on the floor for lost money!  Of course going to the post office stoned is awesome, I don't realize the line has moved up until someone says something I can't comprehend to get me to move!  Then I get to wonder, (when I'm not stoned anymore), for days what that person behind me actually said!  
See?  It's all a matter of how you choose to look at things!

[Raineyrocks]

Ever heard of masochism?

Somewhere there is bound to be a person who gets off on waiting in line at the post office.

Hey, that's not fair, you posted before I finished my other post!   

[Lloyd Danforth]

I heard they removed them because young people kept asking what they were

[coffeeseven]

Gene Ray was right.

[KBCraig]

Gene Ray was right.

+1 for the reference!

[Raineyrocks]

Gene Ray was right.

Who's Gene Ray?

[eques]

I didn't know either: http://www.timecube.com/

(or maybe this is the better reference: http://timecube.com/index15.html)

[Raineyrocks]

I didn't know either: http://www.timecube.com/

(or maybe this is the better reference: http://timecube.com/index15.html)

Whoa!  That site is confusing!  I like the second link better, thanks!

[KBCraig]

I didn't know either: http://www.timecube.com/

(or maybe this is the better reference: http://timecube.com/index15.html)

Whoa!  That site is confusing!  I like the second link better, thanks!

This will help you understand even better:
http://freetalklive.com/files/generay.mp3

[Raineyrocks]

I didn't know either: http://www.timecube.com/

(or maybe this is the better reference: http://timecube.com/index15.html)

Whoa!  That site is confusing!  I like the second link better, thanks!

This will help you understand even better:
http://freetalklive.com/files/generay.mp3

Thanks, I did listen to entire conversation but I'm still confused.  Is this guy really the smartest guy in the world?  It was hard to understand what he was saying.  He didn't really explain the 4 corner thing very well either, is he onto something that is groundbreaking, scientifically?