The following appeared in a memorandum from a regional supervisor of post office operations:“During a two-week study of postal operations, the Presto City post office handled about twice as many items as the Lento City post office, even though the cities

The argument that a two week study shows, Presto City post office handled twice as many items as the Lento City post office, even though both the cities are of the same size raises some important concerns that must be addressed in order to substantiate the argument. The statement that follows gives an example of fewer complaints registered at the Presto post office to support its claims. Further, the author gives a solution to this problem as the postmasters of both post offices be exchanged, this does not constitute a logical argument and it certainly does not support or provide proof to the main argument.

Most inadequately, the argument never addresses the reason for concluding the results based on a two week study. A two week study of two post offices is a relatively short period because postal density varies with season for a particular location. A clear idea about the logistics handled by both the post offices would be given by a year round study of them. It can be quite possible that both the post offices handle more or less the same number of items throughout the year.

Second, the author never takes into account the various other factors that affect the postal system, the cities having the same size does not solely constitute to an effective comparison of the logistics system into question. Other factors include various ecological factors like the topography of a region, climate, population density, and population distribution. It is quite possible that these factors are predominant in Lento City and the post office is actually doing a very good job in the city.

Finally, the argument most dubiously takes into account the complaints registered as a major factor of comparison. It can be well assumed that though there is lesser number of complaints registered at Lento City post office the post office is actually performing pathetically. Further, the solution of switching over the postmasters seems to be incorrect. Every postmaster is aware of his area and this switching over might actually cause more harm than good to the current situation.

In conclusion, the argument does not address several key issues and so it is neither sound nor persuasive. If it had included the points discussed above it would have been far more through and convincing.