This sounds like a math problem on a standardized test: If the amount of mail processed in fiscal year (FY) 2018 declined by 5 billion pieces and total number of workers used to process mail declined by 5,000 career employees (with workhours also dropping by 4.3 million), how much did overtime costs decrease?
Answer: They didn’t. Overtime costs to process mail increased by $257 million (31 percent) in FY2018 from the previous year. What happened?
The opioids epidemic, which President Trump declared a public health emergency in October 2017, has had a national impact on many people, businesses, and organizations, including the U.S. Postal Service.
It was an especially lively six-month period covered by our most recent Semiannual Report to Congress – October 1, 2018 through March 31, 2019. The period included the partial government shutdown in December, and January saw the official appointment of our acting Inspector General to the IG position – only the third IG in our 20-year history. And then there’s all the work we did.
With three agencies that have “U.S. Postal Service” in their names, and each one having different responsibilities and jurisdictions, it’s no wonder people sometimes aren’t sure where to turn for help with lost, delayed, or damaged mail.
With the Postal Service solely responsible for mail...
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Why does the U.S. Postal Service charge the same price for a greeting card going from Washington, D.C., to California as it does from Manhattan to Queens? Because the Postal Service must follow a set of regulations designed to ensure that everyone can send and receive mail at a reasonable price...
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The global pandemic of COVID-19 has impacted our country in ways that were unimaginable months ago. It is changing how people across the U.S. and around the world are working, shopping, even interacting with one another. States have ordered many stores and businesses to close. Businesses that...
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Beginning in 2018 the Postal Service purchased new lift gates – equipment on the rear of a truck that helps load and unload mail containers from the truck. The lift gates were designed to save costs through efficiency and improved safety. The new lift gates are a tuck-under style (moves out from...
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