survey last night and we average 7,000 to 10,000 pieces of mail daily in dear colleague letters. It is obvious, therefore, that this type of accounting makes impossible any accurate estimate of the amount of letters actually received and processed.

INCREASE IN SERVICES PROVIDED MEMBERS

The services provided to the Members have increased considerably since I assumed the office of postmaster in 1972. A brief summary of these services is listed as follows:

1. In 1972, the House Post Office began limited X-ray scanning of selected incoming mail to detect the presence of explosive or otherwise dangerous devices. At this time all incoming mail is now carefully subjected to X-ray analysis.

2. In 1972, I initiated full-counter servives enabling persons to purchase money orders and send registered mail until 6 p.m. during the week and until 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays. In the past it was 2:00 p.m., in the afternoon.

3. Since 1973, the House Post Office has delivered the green bound Congressional Records to the Members offices.

4. Since 1974, the House Post Office has delivered newspapers which were previously handled by the District News Service.

5. În 1974, the House Post Office began servicing House Annex No. 1. Currently we have 150 stops in this facility.

6. In 1975, the House Post Office began servicing House Annex No. 2. Currently we have 62 stops in this facility.

7. The House Post Office has also taken over the responsibility of delivering all special delivery mail, which was previously handled by the city post office.

8. Since becoming postmaster I have initiated special messenger services to the State Department and to the Social Security Administration so that congressional mail is now delivered directly to these agencies bypassing the Government mail section of the city post office. 9. The House Post Office will also provide a special mail pickup to any office at the request of that office.

All of these "extras" have been accomplished without the use of additional personnel. At the present time, the House Post Office is authorized 93 employees in full time positions. Ninety of these are involved in mail processing and counter service, 8 of which operate the X-ray system. Currently we have six vacancies.

By adjusting work schedules, all House Post Office employees work 12 straight days before they have a weekend off to allow for 7-day-aweek service. This 7-day service is provided to the House offices every day of the year with the exception of Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and Inaugural Day every fourth year.

Through organizing a more efficient sorting of the incoming mail, the House Post Office employees can sort approximately 1,200 pieces of mail per hour compared to their counterparts in the regular Postal Service who sort approximately 800 pieces of mail per hour.

We have four shifts-with some of the shifts overlapping. The mail room is in operation from 2:30 a.m. until 10:00 p.m.

Mail is picked up from all floors and the mail chutes 10 times daily during the week and 5 times during weekends. Mail is delivered four

times daily during the week and four times during weekends. Mail is dispatched to the city post office every hour on the hour from 2:30 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. during the week.

Since my election as Postmaster, I have worked in conjunction with the Postal Service to provide the Members with the "Orange Bag" service. This type of service guarantees a Member that his congressional mail will be delivered to a special point in his congressional district within 1 day.

As I mentioned earlier, I have also initiated the special messenger services to the State Department and the Social Security Administration in Baltimore. Both of these services expedite the handling of congressional mail and eliminate much of the delay because the mail is delivered directly to their respective mail rooms.

The information on the following pages is furnished to the Members to give them an idea of the kinds of mail that are received and processed by the House mail room. I have included figures from previous years with monthly breakdowns in order to make the figures more relevant and to provide a better standard of comparison.

STAMP SALES

The stamp sales for all House Post Office stations and stamp windows totaled $1,230,150 for calendar year 1976. This compares with totals of $1,193,943.72 for calendar year 1975 and $1,087,470.17 for calendar year 1974.

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I wish to thank you for your indulgence in this matter. I do appreciate your giving me this chance to show you the improvements that have taken place since I became the Postmaster in 1972. It is my hope that we will be able to maintain the same standard of service now offered to the Members of Congress and that the future will enable me to give you even greater and more efficient service.

INCREASE IN VOLUME OF BUSINESS

Mr. SHIPLEY. Your business is going up every place, I guess.

Mr. ROTA. Yes; some of the figures on incoming letters and flats are down, but because of the way we tabulate and because of the things I mentioned previously about bulk rate mailings, in the last 2 years they have gotten away from sending material to members through the mail, and now they do it in cartons or boxes, or they use the United Parcel or other methods to deliver the mail to us, so all the membership of the House had the same 1-day delivery rather than some members getting 1-day service and others having later deliveries.

Then again, determinations vary as to what is a flat and what is a letter, and having had an election year, you can see the months the members were home.

For instance, in 1975 we were in session, and you can see the volume increase, whereas this year when you were campaigning, it dropped. You can also see the effect of different types of legislation, like abortion or resignation of the President; we handled 3.5 million pieces of mail in that 1 month.

STATISTICS ON INCOMING MAIL, MONEY ORDERS AND FEES

I would like to have the four charts made a part of my statement.

Mr. SHIPLEY. Mr. Postmaster, that was a good statement. Really, I think you have done a tremendous job, and since you have been here you haven't come in every year with an increase in personnel. You say you are still at the same personnel level?

Mr. ROTA. We have had no increase in personnel since I have been there.

OVERTIME

Mr. SHIPLEY. How much overtime did you pay last year?

Mr. ROTA. It was $11,708.

Mr. SHIPLEY. That is not a lot of money for overtime. That is reasonable.

Mr. ROTA. We use every minute the employee is there.

Mr. SHIPLEY. Mr. Coughlin had the question. That is why I wanted to ask it. He wanted to know how much overtime and maybe if it wouldn't be feasible to hire additional people rather than pay overtime, but it wouldn't be if that is all the overtime you are paying.

Mr. ROTA. No; it would not. Through managing the mail in the way it comes in and then breaking down how the men handle the mail, we were able to eliminate a lot of the clerk positions and use them for other things.

SERVICE AT HOUSE ANNEX NO. 2

For instance, at annex No. 2 we have two men hauling mail almost constantly from 8 o'clock in the morning until 10 o'clock a night. That station wagon is down there loaded, coming back and forth all day long.

Mr. SHIPLEY. Down where?
Mr. ROTA. The FBI Building.

Mr. SHIPLEY. That answers my next question.
I was reading it and you got ahead of me.

Mr. ROTA. The Budget Committee sends out a tremendous amount of mail down there.

Mr. SHIPLEY. You say you have one station wagon that runs back and forth?

Mr. ROTA. Yes, sir, it takes two men. We were able at the beginning, when I first started serving the FBI Building, to handle it with one man, but with all the mail coming out it takes two men to load it and unload it. One man can't handle it. We get behind. So we can catch the run of the trucks, because we are dispatching each hour on the hour. The two men cover the building, come back and unload and back for another load.

Mr. SHIPLEY. I don't have any questions on your budget because it looks like a good budget. You haven't been in every year asking for additional funds for whatever, but I am going to ask you more of a personal question for the record.

SALARY OF POSTMASTER

How much do you make? What is your salary?
Mr. ROTA. $31,500.

Mr. SHIPLEY. How does that relate to the other officers of the House and why are you being paid only $31,500? Is there a historical reason for that?

I thought at one time the officers were all paid the same rate. Any comments from anybody?

Mr. ROTA. I believe it is under study now.

Mr. SHIPLEY. You know you must be worth more than that.

Mr. ROTA. I hope so.

Mr. SHIPLEY. Is there any move afoot, Mr. Postmaster?

Mr. ROTA. It is being studied in the House Administration Committee. For some reason, I don't know why, but some way or another the resolution got tied down in and the former Postmaster evidently didn't request to be removed from it when the other officers went under a schedule.

Mr. SHIPLEY. What was the last raise you had?

Mr. ROTA. 1969 or before.

Mr. COLLEY. My recollection is that you may have gotten the costof-living raises.

Mr. ROTA. No, sir. In fact, the Chaplain and I were the only two in the entire Congress who did not receive the cost-of-living raises. Mr. SHIPLEY. You haven't received anything?

Mr. ROTA. Nothing.

Mr. BENJAMIN. Did you say you haven't received anything? I don't understand that at all.

Mr. COLLEY. Under the basic authority for these the cost-of-living raises, it is specifically written into the law that no salary set by House resolution will be increased unless the House passes a resolution to do it. That is the reason for not only the Postmaster, but for the Chaplain. The only reason there has been a change for the Clerk

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