U.S. Postal Service Transportation Cost of Mail Transport Equipment

Our objective was to assess the Postal Service’s efforts to reduce transportation costs of Mail Transport Equipment (MTE) in the Mail Transport Equipment Service Center (MTESC) network. The MTESC network is a nationwide network of 14 contractor-operated facilities. MTESC facilities process, repair, store, and distribute MTE (containers, sacks, trays, flat tubs, sleeves, and pallets) to processing and distribution centers (P&DCs) and business mailers. The cost to move MTE nationwide decreased from $41.5 million in fiscal year (FY) 2017 to $31.7 million in FY 2018. However, the cost to move MTE within the MTESC network increased from $21.3 million to $30.2 million during this period.