Upcoming Audit Work

The Postal Service developed Fiscal Year 2024 peak season preparedness initiatives to build upon the successes it had during prior peak seasons. The Postal Service’s initiatives spanned multiple functions, including processing and distribution, logistics, retail, and delivery operations. Our objective is to evaluate the Postal Service’s performance during the fiscal year (FY) 2024 peak mailing season and the implementation of its peak mailing season preparedness plan.

The Postal Service is investing $9.6 billion to install modern charging infrastructure at hundreds of facilities; electrify delivery vehicles; and modernize mail delivery by creating an efficient network to reach its 163 million delivery locations across the country and strengthen the sustainability of its critical public service. As $3 billion of this investment stems from congressional funding, it is essential for the Postal Service to capture cost-savings. Our objective is to determine if the Postal Service is participating in incentive programs related to its electric vehicles and requisite charging infrastructure. If not, identify opportunities for participation and associated cost savings.

As part of its 10-year Delivering for America plan, the Postal Service is modernizing its fleet with electric delivery vehicles and charging stations at hundreds of facilities. We are monitoring the Postal Service’s construction of charging stations, which is supported by congressional funding. Our auditors will evaluate the Postal Service’s site design and construction timelines related to its charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.

One of the key objectives of Delivering for America, 10-year plan, is to shift from air to surface transportation. In July 2023 the Postal Service retired three package shipping services (Retail Ground, Parcel Select Ground, and First-Class Package) and introduced one new package shipping service, Ground Advantage. The current three package shipping services are Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, and Ground Advantage. Our objective is to evaluate the service performance and effectiveness of package shipping services. The scope of our audit is packages shipped July 2023 - March 2024 compared to the three retired services for the same period last year.

Under Delivering for America, the Postal Service is targeting key markets where they can aggregate delivery units into fewer, larger, centrally located Sorting and Delivery Centers (S&DCs), to provide faster and more reliable mail and package delivery over a greater geographic area. The Postal Service plans to deploy over 400 new S&DCs in the next few years, with 18 conversions being implemented in January and February 2024. The objective of this audit is to evaluate service performance before and after implementation of the new Binghamton, NY S&DC – which will occur as part of the February 2024 conversions.