Express Mail Corporate Account Revenue
BACKGROUND:
Express Mail is the U.S. Postal Service’s premium delivery service with a money-back guarantee and overnight delivery. The Postal Service receives payment for Express Mail through stamp sales, postage meters, automated postal centers, and electronic payment options such as PC Postage and Click-N-Ship. In addition, the Postal Service offers business customers use of an Express Mail® corporate account to prepay for postage through a credit card or automated clearinghouse debit. The Postal Service receives payment for corporate account pieces by manually withdrawing postage from the account when the piece is properly accepted.
Postal Service personnel have expressed concern that corporate account pieces are delivered without revenue being collected, unlike noncorporate account pieces that can be paid through stamp sales and postage meters. In fiscal years 2011 and 2012, corporate account revenue was $71.6 million and $63.6 million, respectively, from a volume of 3.1 million and 3.0 million pieces, respectively.
Our objective was to determine whether the Postal Service collects all revenue for services provided to Express Mail corporate account customers.
WHAT THE OIG FOUND:
The Postal Service did not collect all revenue for services provided to Express Mail corporate account customers. Specifically, Postal Service personnel did not follow acceptance procedures or use existing management reports to identify mail processing facilities not complying with procedures to properly accept Express Mail packages. In addition, delivery unit personnel were not required to provide additional safeguards against uncollected revenue, such as processing an acceptance transaction when scanning individual Express Mail pieces for delivery.
We estimated that the Postal Service did not collect about $1.75 million annually in revenue for corporate account pieces and would continue to lose at least $1.3 million annually.
WHAT THE OIG RECOMMENDED:
We recommended management use available management reports to identify and notify mail processing facilities not following Postal Service procedures to improve full acceptance transactions for Express Mail corporate account pieces. Additionally, management should update and reissue procedures for delivery units to identify and properly accept corporate account pieces that have not yet been accepted.