Mine System Processes Retirements

A story about how the US federal government processes retirement paperwork through an underground mine system run by Iron Mountain.

"The federal government is retiring around 100,000 people a year, and here's how it works: When you work for a federal agency - FBI, postal service, whatever - and you need to retire, every single federal employee has a manila envelope stored in this mine in Pennsylvania that Iron Mountain runs.

When you want to retire, you file a piece of paperwork, give it to your boss at your federal agency, and they have to mail it to the mine in PA. It takes roughly 60 days because one of the 600 employees at this mine needs to physically have the file in hand. They walk to your file in the mountain - which is 200 football fields or 200 acres - and physically get that file.

They look at your file and say 'Alright, looks like he's 65, oh he actually retired at 59 years old then came back, turns out he served in the Iraq war, so he gets this thing, this thing, this thing.' Then they close the file, put it back, and send the paperwork back to your agency to let them know what your pension will be. That whole process takes about 90 days.

Since the 1980s, they've spent hundreds of millions, approaching billions of dollars, trying to digitize this system. It's failed every time. The New Yorker wrote about this - they tried it in 1980, tried it in 1995, and they're still trying it now.

The mine workers are generations of former miners - they're not computer experts, they're physical laborers. But the retention is 100% because it's a stable job with unlimited overtime. They work 8-5, can't have flames in the mine, and all their food has to be delivered - just fried food or pizza from two vendors."