Automation: P.O. Woe

Like many a U.S. businessman who regarded automation as an effortlessly efficient conveyor belt to future savings, the U.S. Post Office is discovering that the automated ride has its bumps and grinds. The first automated post office, costing some $20 million, went into operation after Thanksgiving, in Providence, R.I.

By last week it was proving far from providential. The electronic canceling machine turned out to have a promiscuous eye, happily approved any spot of color where the stamp should be, including Christmas seals and trading stamps, on test mail sent by the Providence Journal-Bulletin. All were delivered. (But when the paper tried it again, spotters, tipped off, caught the letters.) Letters that once took a day to reach nearby Boston from Providence took two days after the machines took over. Though the Post Office expected automation to cut down on the work force, it needed its usual 1,500 temporary employees to keep the machines from choking during the Christmas rush.

Post Office officials readily concede some of the public's complaints but blame not the machines but the humans, who they say, still have to learn about the care and feeding of the system. The Post Office, still on the side of the machines, expects to install more in other cities.