USPS Office of Inspector General

Zero Base sounds like the first acclimation stop on a climb up Mount Everest. It’s actually an important program to help the U.S. Postal Service control costs in its Postal Vehicle Service (PVS) program.

It seems a simple equation: processing costs should decrease as mail volumes decline. Except that’s not happening. And it’s hurting the U.S. Postal Service’s bottom line.

The Postal Service has not been able to lower mail processing costs at its 285 plants to match decreasing mail volumes, our recent audit report found.

Postage stamps, records manipulation, and a clandestine call to report suspicions. It has the makings of a good series to binge watch on a rainy weekend.

Instead, it’s a recent audit report on improving the controls around stamp stock at postal retail outlets. And it started with a call to our Hotline to report suspicious transactions involving stolen stamps from a Louisiana postal station.