U.S. Postal Service

Terminal dues, which posts use to pay one another for international deliveries of letters and small packages, have generally been set below domestic postage rates. As a result, the terminal dues system fails to cover many postal operators’ processing and delivery costs for international inbound mail...

To reimburse the Postal Service for unpaid amounts for revenue forgone, Congress promised to pay the Postal Service $29 million a year from 1994 through 2035 without interest. Starting in FY 2011, the $29 million payments were reduced or skipped for 4 years. They have now resumed, but there is a...

Historically the purpose of the postal monopolies has been to ensure the Postal Service has adequate revenue to cover the cost of its universal service obligation. The combination of the decline in letter mail and the price cap on monopoly products has challenged the ability of the monopolies to...

Advertising mail, an important tool for businesses and nonprofit organizations, is critically important to the U.S. Postal Service’s bottom line, generating $19.4 billion in revenue in FY 2015. Most ad mail is sent as Standard Mail, which declined 20 percent in volume during the Great Recession and...

While post offices sold $21 billion worth of money orders in fiscal year 2015, money order sales have plunged 60 percent from their peak in 2000.About 1,200 high volume post offices grew money order sales by at least 10 percent in the past 3 years, showing that improving sales is achievable. Selling...

Despite $216 million in revenue from providing passport services in FY 2015, the Postal Service has been processing fewer passport applications than before. The OIG has identified three areas of customer service that could be improved with simple changes, leading to a greater number of passport...

The future of advertising mail—currently a critical product for the Postal Service’s bottom line—is uncertain. Key external factors impacting future advertising mail volumes are: the national economy, the growth of Internet advertising, and the degree to which Internet advertising displaces...

Blockchain technology is a new way to transfer any kind of data or information in a fast, tracked, and secure manner without need for an intermediary. Major companies, such as Citibank and Australia Post, are beginning to research and experiment with this technology in order to provide new and more...

Technology is driving a heightened level of innovation in product and service offerings in the current last mile parcel delivery market and is transforming the way delivery providers interact with their customers. It has empowered customers with tools like real-time tracking, and has raised their...

Users are an important asset to digital platform companies such as Google, Facebook, and Snapchat. The way digital platforms treat their users offers valuable lessons for the Postal Service and the postal platform: focus on the platform experience, strengthen user engagement, and maximize the value...