The Pushing the Envelope blog team, along with the entire OIG, would like to wish everyone very happy holidays and a safe, healthy, and happy new year. We're taking a break this week, so we'll see you all next Monday, January 4, when we present our Top Ten Postal Stories of 2020.
As we release our Fall Semiannual Report to Congress (SARC) highlighting our work from April 1 through September 30 of this year, the country still finds itself amid a global health crisis that has impacted just about all aspects of American life, including the bedrock of any democracy — the voting process.
With big investigations involving multiple law enforcement agencies, the dominos can continue to fall long after the first conviction.
You’ve probably noticed that wherever you go in this country, it’s pretty easy to find a post office. After all, the U.S. Postal Service has the largest retail network in the country, using its more than 31,000 locations to provide vital services like mailing and shipping, passport processing,...
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From wearing masks and working at home to popularizing terms like “social distancing” and “contact tracing,” the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on life has been far and wide. Most people just don’t do things the way they used to, and according to our new survey, that includes some of the ways they...
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While many of our audit reports are planned in advance, from time to time we respond to situations that require immediate response. Take, for example, the reports of mail delays and wait times up to 15 hours for truck drivers in Cleveland in December 2020.
As discussed in our recently...
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Seamless Acceptance is the automation of mail verification of mailings from mail service providers (MSPs) who apply unique Intelligent Mail barcodes (IMb) on mailpieces, trays, sacks, pallets, and other containers. The MSPs submit electronic data that provides information on the corresponding...
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Mail is processed manually when its dimensions or address quality prevent it from being processed automatically. Processing mail manually has significantly lower productivity than processing mail on automated mail processing equipment.
From fiscal year (FY) 2019 to FY 2020,...
The Postal Service owns more than 8,400 facilities. In the wake of the global pandemic, public expectations for trusted and safe indoor business environments, including those of the Postal Service, are evolving. Research has shown that airborne transmission of the coronavirus should be...
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