USPS Office of Inspector General

Each year, increased mail and package volume during the U.S. Postal Service’s peak mailing season — November through January — significantly strains the USPS processing and distribution network. And each year, the Postal Service hires temporary employees and leases additional temporary facility space to help ease the strain.

You’ve likely gone to a post office to mail a parcel to a friend or family member. Sometimes the postal clerk simply weighs the package, and other times the clerk also measures the dimensions. Or perhaps you have used the U.S. Postal Service’s flat-rate boxes and paid the flat fee. Did you ever wonder how this process works for large mailers who give the Postal Service thousands of different-sized packages daily?

Our audits of Postal Service operations span different geographies, from national analysis to regional to local issues.  While most of our audits are self-initiated, many come from stakeholders including Congress.