Phone Calls

* Re “Just How Productive Are U.S. Workers?” Opinion, July 9:

Companies save millions of dollars with automated “telephone operators” by imposing on the public the burden of having to go through lengthy menus. If 20% of the population (50 million) spend an extra six minutes per call by going through “push 1, push 2, push etc.,” the wasted time is 1/10th hour per phone call. Two calls per day equals 1/5th of an hour. At a modest rate of $15 per hour, this equals $3. Fifty million people waste $150 million each weekday or about $40 billion a year. Does this have an impact when measuring productivity?

ARNOLD H. ZWEIG

Studio City