USPS Office of Inspector General

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.

Blame it on the rain. Or the heat, or the snow. Weather, it seems, has an impact on the U.S. Postal Service’s productivity. Geographic regions with extreme climate – other things being equal – have lower productivity than moderate climate regions.

Climate isn’t the only regional factor. Cost of living and terrain ruggedness also have an impact on the productivity in a region.

The U.S. Postal Service owns roughly 8,400 properties and leases more than 23,000 others with annual rents totaling more than $800 million. Yet, the Postal Service has “excess space” — property or space not used or needed.