Focus On

The Postal Service is in the middle of a major effort to replace its aging delivery fleet. Many carriers still use Long Life Vehicles (LLVs), which are far past their 24-year expected service life. To replace them, the Postal Service has decided to acquire more than 106,000 new vehicles from fiscal year (FY) 2023 through FY 2028. The acquisition includes both commercial off-the-shelf and purpose-built vehicles. Our oversight of fleet modernization focuses on several areas.

Ever since its creation, the Postal Service has added value to the country in numerous ways. The last few years have demonstrated the value of USPS providing mail and packages, especially in rural areas. USPS’s value to the country, actually extends well beyond providing mail. Our work in this area has identified some of the key benefits.

The OIG plays a critical role in detecting and preventing mail theft. This includes both investigations into postal employees who steal mail and oversight of the Postal Service’s efforts to mitigate mail theft. Below are some highlights from this work. improve the accountability of arrow keys.

The Postal Service’s operations depend on its 640,000 employees. Nearly 115,000 are pre-career employees (formerly called non-career employees).

Pre-career employees do not receive the same level of benefits as career employees. They work as city carrier assistants (CCAs), rural career associates (RCAs), and other rural part-time employees who deliver mail; mail handler assistants (MHAs) who load, unload, and move mail in plants; postal support employees (PSEs) who perform clerical and administrative duties to support various functions; and in other roles.

The OIG has issued a series of reports on the Postal Service’s universal service obligation (USO). As we discuss in the 2014 Guiding Principles for a New Universal Service Obligation report, unlike many other posts, the Postal Service does not have a precise definition of its USO Instead, the USO is generally agreed to be made up of a collection of laws and regulations that sometimes provide only broad guidance. There are, however, some aspects that are clearly defined, such as the requirement to deliver mail six days a week.

Since 2009, the OIG has a done substantial amount of work in the area of employee pension and retiree health liabilities. This Focus On provides an overview of that work.

Highway transportation is the main method the Postal Service uses to move mail between processing facilities and from processing facilities to delivery units. Contract highway transportation accounted for $6.1 billion in costs in fiscal year (FY) 2022, 59 percent of total purchased transportation costs. In addition, the Postal Service spent $1.2 billion on labor, supplies, and other costs for its…

In response to the ongoing concern about postal services in rural areas, the OIG has published a series of reports on this topic. We found rural postal customers value and have a greater interest in using the mail compared to urban customers. The relative size of rural areas is important. Rural areas are geographically dispersed across the country and comprise 88 percent of the area served by the…

Read this paper to learn more about rural customers need and want from USPS In response to the ongoing concern about postal services in rural areas, the OIG has published a series of reports on this topic.