PUSHING THE ENVELOPE BLOG

For this year’s peak mailing season, which began last month and runs through January, the U.S. Postal Service decided to hire fewer temporary employees and lease less temporary space to handle the increased volume than it did last year. Seems counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? Not when you consider that this year, according to the Postal Service, it has more experienced employees, higher employee availability, increased package processing capacity, and a more stable workforce overall. What a differ

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 result

It’s not uncommon for Congress to ask for our testimony on matters affecting the U.S. Postal Service. In fact, just last Wednesday, November 16, Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb Hull appeared before the House Subcommittee on Government Operations for a timely hearing entitled, “ The Holiday Rush: Is the Postal Service Ready?” The first of five witnesses to testify, IG Hull briefed the subcommittee on our recent audit report, Fiscal Year 2023 Peak Season Preparedness — our annual review of the Po

When people think of the Postal Service, people think of, well, letters, magazines, catalogs, and parcels. Over the past decade, the Postal Service has handled more and more parcels, but the volume of the remaining products, often called traditional mail, has declined. The spread of smartphones and the growth of social media have spurred new methods of communicating, getting information, paying bills, and advertising.

Increasingly, online shoppers are demanding faster shipping. Maybe you’re one of them. If so, then you’d probably like all e-tailers to oblige, regardless of size. But for small businesses to compete with larger competitors, they need help with quick and efficient logistics and fulfillment. That’s good news for the U.S. Postal Service. Already an important segment of the Postal Service’s customer base, small businesses comprise an overwhelming majority of all businesses in the U.S., and their n