Focus On

When Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022, it included $3 billion in funds to support the Postal Service’s purchase of zero-emission vehicles for its delivery fleet. USPS received $1.29 billion for the vehicles themselves and a further $1.71 billion for supporting infrastructure such as charging stations. The Act allowed USPS 10 years, through fiscal year (FY) 2031, to use the funds and provided the OIG $15 million over the same time period to conduct oversight of the Postal Service’s efforts.

The OIG plays a critical role in detecting and preventing mail theft. First, we investigate when a postal employee steals the mail, whether it is alone or in collaboration with external criminals. You can read about some of the great work our agents have done on mail theft, as well as other crimes committed by postal employees, on our Investigative Case Highlights page. Second, we audit the steps the Postal Service has taken to mitigate mail theft and provide recommendations for how it can improve.

The Postal Service’s operations depend on its 640,000 employees. Nearly 115,000 are pre-career employees (formerly called non-career employees).

Pre-career employees do not receive the same level of benefits as career employees. They work as city carrier assistants (CCAs), rural career associates (RCAs), and other rural part-time employees who deliver mail; mail handler assistants (MHAs) who load, unload, and move mail in plants; postal support employees (PSEs) who perform clerical and administrative duties to support various functions; and in other roles.

The OIG has issued a series of reports on the Postal Service’s universal service obligation (USO). As we discuss in the 2014 Guiding Principles for a New Universal Service Obligation report, unlike many other posts, the Postal Service does not have a precise definition of its USO Instead, the USO is generally agreed to be made up of a collection of laws and regulations that sometimes provide only broad guidance. There are, however, some aspects that are clearly defined, such as the requirement to deliver mail six days a week.

The Postal Service is in the process of acquiring new delivery vehicles, including electric vehicles, to replace its aging delivery fleet. While some will be commercial, off-the-shelf vehicles, most will be Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDVs), which are purpose built to the Postal Service’s specifications. The OIG has published several reports about the Postal Service’s purchase process and preparations. In 2014, we found the Postal Service had not fully implemented its strategy for replacing delivery vehicles because of funding constraints. We recommended USPS continue to pursue its short-term plan of buying some new vehicles each year, while it worked to finalize its long-term plan.

Since 2009, the OIG has a done substantial amount of work in the area of employee pension and retiree health liabilities. This Focus On provides an overview of that work.

Highway transportation is the main method the Postal Service uses to move mail between processing facilities and from processing facilities to delivery units. Contract highway transportation accounted for $6.1 billion in costs in fiscal year (FY) 2022, 59 percent of total purchased transportation costs. In addition, the Postal Service spent $1.2 billion on labor, supplies, and other costs for its…

In response to the ongoing concern about postal services in rural areas, the OIG has published a series of reports on this topic. We found rural postal customers value and have a greater interest in using the mail compared to urban customers. The relative size of rural areas is important. Rural areas are geographically dispersed across the country and comprise 88 percent of the area served by the…

Read this paper to learn more about rural customers need and want from USPS In response to the ongoing concern about postal services in rural areas, the OIG has published a series of reports on this topic.