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OIG Ends Another (Fiscal) Year

Pushing the Envelope Blog

OIG Ends Another (Fiscal) Year

Date: 12/05/22 | Category: OIG

There’s another month until January 1, but the USPS OIG and the rest of the federal government have already finished 2022. Our fiscal year (FY) ended on September 30.

This past year was our 25th anniversary, and we worked hard to provide oversight of the Postal Service and share our work with the Postal Service’s stakeholders including Congress and the public. Among many, here are a few things we are particularly proud of:

  • We participated in three Congressional hearings describing the results of our audits of service problems around the country and a fourth hearing on the Postal Service’s acquisition of electric delivery vehicles.
  • Our Office of Audit’s new Field Operations Review Team began conducting quick reviews of multiple facilities in specific cities and areas of the country experiencing service challenges. Looking at processing and delivery facilities together helps us get a better picture of why service problems are happening.
  • As part of its work stopping mail theft by postal employees, our Office of Investigations increased its focus on the theft and mishandling of arrow keys – the universal keys used to open both centralized delivery boxes and blue collection boxes.

Our Fall Semiannual Report to Congress or SARC gives the stats. Over the entire FY 2022, we issued 144 reports and closed 3,178 investigations. You’ll also find a trove of other data that paints a detailed picture of our work.

As the OIG embarks on its next 25 years, what do you think we should focus on? Let us know in the comments below.

Leave a Comment

Your Name
Karen Jeffries
Jan 3, 2023
Your Comment
The USPS is the worst it has ever been. They do not deliver critical business mail to our company. There is missing mail and packages. I have lodged over a dozen complaints. The answer from USPS is that they have lowered their standards for mail carriers, because Americans don't want to work. Really? I have a business full of workers that want to work, but I am not receiving customer checks and vendor invoices, because the US postal service has fallen the way of total ineptitude and a don't give a darn attitude.
Your Name
Samuel Samuelsen
Dec 23, 2022
Your Comment
The OIG should prioritize identifying barriers to automation within the USPS. Labor is scarce, both at the USPS and throughout the American economy, and this is unlikely to get better as birthrates remain below the replacement level. Theft and loss also occur disproportionately at steps in the USPS logistics chain that pass through human hands, and labor accounts for roughly 3/4 of all USPS expenses already, between retirement benefits and compensation. Even doubling the USPS'S capital expenditure could very well be worthwhile if it saves significant labor.

What would it take to replace carriers on some routes with drones or autonomous vehicles? Could mailboxes be made modular and removable so that the mail could stay in a single sealed, machine-handleable container from the sorting machine to the delivery point? Questions like these must be considered, if not by the OIG, then by somebody at USPS.

There are lots of emerging technologies revolutionizing other parts of the transportation and logistics sectors, and the OIG should advise the USPS on how to stay ahead of that curve. It's much cheaper in the long run to analyze a pie-in-the-sky plan and find it wanting than to overlook a key labor-saving technology.
Your Name
Mike Oxlong
Dec 16, 2022
Your Comment
Labor and labor-adjacent expenses remain by far the largest cost to USPS. Mail theft while in USPS custody also occurs almost exclusively by diversion of mail from parts of the delivery chain that pass through human hands.

The OIG should systematically identify the most labor-intensive steps in the USPS delivery chain and what the barriers to automating those steps are. By enumerating those barriers, the USPS will be able to generate specifications for, and solicit contracts for, machinery to automate some of those steps in a way that is not possible for the far more nebulous problem of "the USPS is broke and has a labor shortage"
Your Name
Robin MacDonald
Dec 15, 2022
Your Comment
There is a large shortage of postal workers in my area, about 40% of those needed to cover the existing routes. We see them working extremely long days (12 hours is not uncommon) and they are physically unable to cover every route every day. The nursing profession is an example of a profession with some similar high demands on its employees: long days leading to burn-out and fatigue. Many nurses now work 12 hour shifts 3 times a week and are considered full-time with benefits. If the job of a mail carrier was looked at this way, it might make it a more attractive job option and make these people vital to our country feel valued. It seems like it is time to rethink the job parameters in order to attract more employees to the post office.
Your Name
Jessica
Dec 9, 2022
Your Comment
Identity theft and whether US Postal policies allow it to happen. One point--if the US Postal service allows a free address update by submitting a physical mailing address change at a local postal station then that local postal station should check the id of who submitted that physical change. Also--the mailed notification of the address change should include the new address and the location, where the request was made (telephone, online, in person).
Your Name
Sara G
Dec 5, 2022
Your Comment
Hello, you should focus on safety of customers, mishandling of addresses from your offices given out to those that should not have folks personal address, better employee training, removal of employees not in line with your company's mission and vision to start. As well as better local contact numbers for your post offices.
Your Name
Sara G
Dec 5, 2022
Your Comment
Hello I really would wish you concentrate your oversight on many of your post offices and postal workers in the state of Hawaii. There has been many homeless sleeping on your premises after hours, between 8pm and 2am. They disrupt customers coming after hours to do business within the post office. This has been going on far too long as well as the very high theft and damages of packages there. It is though your department has forgotten about Hawaii. It is at times very unsafe and doing business there is relentless! Please focus some of your energy in Hawaii 2023.