The Postal Service “does not have a clear understanding of the full extent of its deferred maintenance across its facilities” says an inspector general report that cited a “culture of accepting poor facility conditions” that causes many issues to go unreported.
The report noted that the USPS a year ago put the cost of deferred maintenance across its facilities at $20 billion, although using what the IG called “limited definitions and data” that did not consistently define deferred maintenance and that included incomplete or outdated cost estimates. The IG in contrast put the figure at a lower $13 billion, based what it called a more “granular” analysis of the available data.
However, the IG said that during its work it found that maintenance issues are going unreported because staff “did not fully understand the importance of their role in reporting these issues or felt powerless to affect change” and because the USPS “did not sufficiently oversee its assessment program.”
