U.S. Postal Service

Two months ago, we released a white paper entitled Causes of the Postal Service FERS [Federal Employees’ Retirement System] Surplus. The paper was prepared with the assistance of the actuarial firm Hay Group. Hay Group found that the postal surplus in the FERS resulted from differences between...

e-Government has developed over the past 20 years in response to the changing needs of an increasingly digital society. Nevertheless, there are still lingering gaps in security, access, and ease of use that have hindered full, public adoption of existing e-Government services, as well as the...

As a follow-up to its paper, A Primer on Postal Costing Issues, the OIG asked Professor Michael D. Bradley of the Economics Department of George Washington University, an expert in postal economics, to co-author a paper on pricing and short-run costs. This paper defines what is meant by short-run...

This paper provides a documented overview of P2P digital commerce. It includes an examination of specific market facilitators that may be familiar names (eBay, Craigslist, etsy, and others) as well as newer P2P service facilitators such as Airbnb, Getaround, and TaskRabbit. Common attributes of...

In 1963 the Post Office Department introduced the Zone Improvement Plan (ZIP) Code as a means to allow mail sorting methods to become faster and eventually be automated, but the innovation also created unimagined socio-economic benefits as an organizing and enabling device. The ZIP Code is a support...

The OIG performed data analytics to identify offices with lost or stolen stamp stock shipments. We identified expenses regarding stamp stock shipments for the William Penn Annex between May 1, 2016, and April 30, 2017. The objective of this audit was to determine whether internal controls over stamp...

This paper gives readers an overview of the major issues faced by the Postal Service, and the short- and long-term options under discussion to help the Postal Service recover. First, the document identifies Levers of Action the Postal Service could take to help cut costs and generate additional...

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) introduced a price cap on market dominant products. Under the PAEA, price increases for each class of market dominant mail is limited by the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This paper, conducted in collaboration with Christensen...

The marketplace for traditional Postal Service products is increasingly competitive. In addition to the long term trend toward electronic media, Postal Service products face intense pressures brought about by the Great Recession. This paper explores an open question raised by these disruptive trends...

There are ongoing debates regarding what role the Postal Service could and should play in meeting modern communications needs. These discussions often include Postal Service management, the postal regulator, postal employees and customers, members of Congress, and other stakeholders. Largely absent...