U.S. Postal Service

The OIG has conducted a nationally representative quantitative survey on the relative value of some key services provided as part of the universal service obligation (USO). This study is the first of its kind in the United States and was done in conjunction with the market research firm Gallup and...

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted reviews from FY 2008 through FY 2013 of flat mail issues and Flat Sequencing System concerns. This white paper summarizes results from those reviews and identifies four overarching areas that have affected the cost component of cost...

The domestic returns business is worth an estimated $3 billion annually and will likely hit $4 billion by 2016. What can the Postal Service do to take advantage of this growing returns and forwarding business? We tried to answer that question in a white paper that found opportunities for the Postal...

We have all read the negative headlines of U.S. Postal Service’s looming financial demise. However, in its new paper, U.S. Postal Service Revenue: Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full?, the OIG finds that the Postal Service may be turning a corner. An increase in parcel volume, significant cost...

Delivery to curbside mailboxes or neighborhood cluster box units costs less than delivery to the door. But do curbside and cluster box delivery result in a lower level of customer engagement with mail? To find out, the Office of inspector General (OIG) asked the market research firm InfoTrends Inc...

Declining First-Class Mail (FCM) volumes pose a major financial challenge to the U.S. Postal Service because FCM contributes by far the largest proportion of revenue to the Postal Service’s bottom line. Between fiscal years 1995 and 2013, FCM single-piece volume dropped by 61 percent. But a close...

The U.S. Postal Service spends more than $800 million each year to lease 23,000 buildings across the country. We took a closer look at the leases in the Eastern Area, one of seven postal areas. We found the Postal Service could potentially shave off $2.2 million out of $111 million in annual lease...

Under its current legal authority, the Postal Service may be able to expand into new products related to its existing offerings. This may include payroll check cashing, domestic money transfers between post offices, bill payment services, international money transfers to additional countries, and...

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) worked with Temple University’s Center for Neural Decision Making to conduct a neuromarketing study focused on the differing response to physical and digital media in the consumer buying process, including intent to purchase. Neuromarketing...

The Internet of Things refers to interconnecting networks of physical objects embedded with digital sensors that can collect, transmit, and act upon a wide variety of data. The Office of Inspector General, in conjunction with IBM, examined how this technology could be applied to create an Internet...