PUSHING THE ENVELOPE BLOG

Here at the Postal Service OIG, we are always looking for new and better ways to perform and present our work. An important and informative part of our audit work has been reports on postal facilities. We had several teams looking at postal facilities in different ways and in different parts of the country. Our new strategy is to coordinate all our postal facility-related projects on one geographic cluster at a time – something we call Field Operation Reviews. While one audit team is looking at

You’ve probably heard in the news the Postal Service has signed a contract to replace its aging delivery fleet. The Postal Service has said at least 10 percent of its new fleet will be electric, with the exact proportion not yet being decided. So, you may be wondering — what benefits and challenges do electric vehicles bring? A recent OIG white paper answered that question. We found many benefits — improved sustainability, increased reliability, and let’s not forget lower energy costs. We also f...

According to a recent estimate from the American Trucking Associations, there was a shortage of 80,000 truck drivers in 2021. The pandemic worsened an already existing shortage, impacting a number of industries, from retail to manufacturing . . . to mail. Truck drivers are an essential part of the Postal Service’s transportation network. The Postal Service relies on over 9,000 USPS-employed drivers and thousands of contractors to move millions of mailpieces each day across the nation’s highways...

Here at “Pushing the Envelope,” we like to keep our readers informed about the OIG’s work, often by highlighting a recent audit report. And anyone who’s spent more than a few minutes on this website knows there are lots of reports posted here. In short, we’ve done a lot. But we’re always continuing to do more, and we want to let you know about it. That’s why we’re launching a new page today — Upcoming Audit Work. On this page you’ll find a brief description of some of our recently started audit

A key element to the OIG’s mission is to keep Congress fully informed of problems and deficiencies relating to Postal Service programs and operations. Sometimes that means sharing our reports with Congress, and other times it means responding to reported problems and testifying before Congress. Following a request by Maryland Congressmen Ruppersberger and Mfume, the OIG issued an audit report in November 2021, examining mail delivery issues at nine Baltimore post offices. Recognizing that root c...