What the Primer Includes This primer explains how the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) works and why it needs reform, and discusses some options for addressing reform issues. GAO provides answers to questions about basic aspects of USPS and postal reform issues in a concise and easy-to-understand format. These answers are based largely on GAO’s prior…
Published: Apr 29, 2021 What GAO Found In 2020, the majority of which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) experienced a 9 percent drop in total mail volume when compared to 2019. The overall drop was primarily due to a 4 percent dip in First-Class Mail and a 14 percent…
The ongoing pandemic is exacerbating the Postal Service’s longstanding financial problems, but under current law, its universal service mission is largely undefined. As confirmed by a new GAO report, Congress must consider how best to reassess and determine the level of universal postal service the nation requires. Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Robert G. Taub explains…
Published: Mar 10, 2020 The U.S. Postal Service has over 31,000 retail facilities—a network reaching into almost every community in the nation. As demand for some mail products has declined, USPS has been unable to cover its costs as it is required to do—putting it on our High Risk list. A task force and others…
July 22, 2018 The Postal Service is among the most capital-intensive federal entities. In fact, it’s planning to nearly double its rate of capital spending over the next 10 years compared to the last decade. That translates to $2.4 billion a year. Auditors at the Government Accountability Office wonder where will the money come from?…
What GAO Found U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the primary federal agency tasked with targeting and inspecting inbound international items and seizing illegal goods, including illegal or inadmissible drugs and merchandise. As mail and express cargo arrive in the United States, both the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and express consignment operators (such as…
GAO-16-385: Apr 29, 2016. What GAO Found The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) had largely completed Post Office Structure Plan’s (POStPlan) implementation prior to a 2014 POStPlan arbitration decision and expected millions in cost savings. Specifically, under POStPlan, USPS planned to reduce hours at about 13,000 post offices (from 8- to 2-, 4-, or 6-hours of retail…
By Leslie K. Paige – December 11, 2015 If Americans have noticed that their mail is being delivered later and more erratically in 2015 than in the past, it is not their imaginations — it is true. On Aug. 13, 2015 the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Office of Inspector General released a report highlighting a…
