Consolidated email? You've got to be kidding me....

Okay. Whomever decided that consolidating the email where I work was an effective way to do things - truly needs to be removed from their position.
I was actually thinking that they should be shot. But, that is a bit harsh.

It has been a nightmare since it was implemented. Literally.

And here's the thing that bothers me the most about this. Email is supposed to be an enhanced way of us to be able to communicate with people in an almost instantaneous way if necessary. It's not just a replacement for the postal service; people use it today as an efficient way of doing their jobs. So riddle me this Batman: If you work for someone, say - the US Air Force, and you're located in Boston -- and you are communicating with co workers who are also working Boston; where does it make sense to have an email message go from being on a local exchange server - to web mail -- bouncing from Boston, to Alabama, back up to Boston? Or, Boston to Alabama to LA? Or Iraq? Wouldn’t it make sense to have it go direct to the location? Sort of like airline flying. Why would one take a connection if they have the opportunity to go non-stop?

Some say server consolidation saves money. In some cases, when you're dealing with a smaller entity than the military - it might make sense. But in this instance, I'd say there's a strong enough argument to prove that's not the case.

Emails disappear. People outside the base I sit at, don't receive my emails -- I certainly don't receive theirs.
I can send an email to someone sitting right next to me - and they wont' receive it for 15 minutes -- sometimes not even at all. I'm constantly double checking and asking people if they receive my messages. And what's so bizarre is that it's inconsistent. They'll get some, but not all of what I send. So there's really nothing I can pinpoint as to what might be preventing a certain message from going through.

Our internet connection, lovingly known as the NIPRNET is already clogged and congested. It's better now than it was in past years, but now - with the addition of hundreds of thousands of emails now floating through the internet connection, it's just making email communication near to impossible.

To me, consolidation of email servers is just another term for counterproductivity and inefficiency of job productivity.