Expands the main menu

Breadcrumb

Audit Reports

  • Image
Jul
20
2021
Report Number:
21-149-R21
Report Type:
Audit Reports
Category: Finance

Refunds of Permit Postage and Fees – Ranson, WV, Post Office

Background

The Ranson Post Office is in the Kentucky-West Virginia District of the Central Area.

Business Reply Mail (BRM) is a service the Postal Service provides to enable senders to provide recipients with a convenient, prepaid method for replying to a mailing. Customers request refunds when postage has been applied to the prepaid mailing. To obtain a refund, customers must submit postage affixed BRM and the required Postal Service (PS) Form 3533, Application for Refund of Fees, Products and Withdrawal of Customer Accounts. The Postal Service assesses fees to process the refunds and deducts them from the customer’s refund amount.

OIG data analytics identified the Ranson, WV, Post Office as having $36,694 recorded to account identifier code (AIC) 528, Refund Permit Postage and Fees, from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. This amount represented 81 percent of the district’s $45,157 refunds for permit postage and fees for this time frame. In addition, we identified the unit had several months with little or no refund activity and four months with unusually high refund amounts for the period October 1, 2019, through March 31, 2021.

Our objective was to determine whether Ranson, WV, Post Office employees properly issued, supported, and processed postage affixed BRM refunds.

Report Recommendations

# Recommendation Status Value Initial Management Response USPS Proposed Resolution OIG Response Final Resolution
1

Provide training and reiterate policy for destroying and refunding business reply main to all unit personnel at Ranson, WV Post Office who are responsible for issuing refunds.

Closed $0 Agree