January 25, 2018

Excerpt:

The Postal Service faces a number of challenges that private companies do not when dealing with illicit narcotics in the mail. For instance, the Postal Service is obligated to deliver international parcels even though it did not originally receive them from the customer. The Postal Service receives limited electronic data about many of these parcels, and the information it does receive is often incomplete or inaccurate. In addition, the sheer volume of inbound parcels the Postal Service handles far exceeds what other shippers manage. Finally, unlike private shippers, the law requires the Postal Service to obtain a warrant to inspect the contents of suspect parcels. The sanctity and privacy of the mail and its contents is a strong principle valued by the American public, but this principle is being exploited by criminals.

Source: USPS Office of Inspector General