An Easy Solution

From Emergency Message EM-10086:

Discontinuation of the Mid-Atlantic Program Service Center (MATPSC) Remittance Accounting Unit (RAU) Hotline ...

MATPSC is discontinuing the RAU hotline due to extremely high call volume. Effective immediately, all FOs [Field Offices] and PSCs [Program Service Centers] are to contact MATPSC via e-mail ...

If a debtor contacts your office about canceling recurring credit card payments, please take the following actions:

· Send an e-mail to ||PHI ARC PCO RDDB DMS the same day the debtor contacts your office.

It sounds like the situation is that the activities of this unit generate a lot of calls from the public and from other Social Security employees who have been prompted to call by members of the public. There are just too many calls to deal with. They find a simple solution. They change to what amounts to an unlisted telephone number and send out a message telling Social Security employees to stop calling them. Social Security employees can send e-mail messages. The public can no longer communicate directly with them. This shifts the unit's problem to other components of Social Security. Probably, this means that this unit never hears of some problems. This unit does get to sort out the problems to the extent they have the manpower to address them and does not have to listen to members of the public complaining about the delays.