It's not just the food movement that's "slow" in the Bay Area. Postal Service employees in San Francisco move far less mail every hour than is typical of a processing and distribution center, according to a report from the Office of the Inspector General at the United States Postal Service, all caused by solvable issues that waste as much as $21 million a year.

The report, released this week and flagged by the Washington Examiner, states that the San Francisco Processing and Distribution Center "did not attain the efficiency achieved by similarly sized P&DCs." During 2013 "the San Francisco P&DC processed mail at a rate of 795 pieces per workhour, whereas the similarly sized P&DC at the median productivity level processed mail at the rate of 1,054 pieces per workhour. Accordingly, the San Francisco P&DC processed 259 fewer pieces per workhour than the comparable P&DC."

Why you do this, San Francisco mail? The report has a few answers: little processing occurred per hour "because management did not adjust workhours to workload, analyze operational efficiency through benchmarking, adequately supervise employees, or fully utilize automation equipment. Consequently, the facility was using more workhours than necessary to process mail volume."

At the same time, there's less and less mail overall being processed in SF, where last year our facility handled about 1.41 billion pieces of mail, a decrease of 8.6 percent from 2012.

According to The Office of the Inspector General, "We identified specific mail processing functional areas that could be more efficient, resulting in 486,781 fewer workhours and an annual cost avoidance of over $21 million."

In 2013 the postal service reported a loss of about $5 billion, so would $21 million in savings right here in San Francisco help? It sure couldn't hurt.

However, it's worth noting that the savings come at a cost: 280 jobs, to be exact. According to the Inspector General, "To save the recommended 486,781 workhours, the P&DC needs about 280 fewer employees." Is San Francisco's post office ready and willing to lay off 280 people? We won't be holding our breath.