Audit Finds Postal Employee ‘Availability’ Slipping; Calls on USPS to Tighten Controls

The Postal Service employee “availability” percentage—the share of scheduled working hours that they are on the job versus on some type of leave—has declined in recent years, says an inspector general audit that calls on management to tighten time and attendance controls.

A measure that excludes leave taken for covid-related reasons shows that availability fell from 84.4 percent in 2020 to 82.8 percent in 2023, although the latter figure was up by 0.3 percentage points from the low of the year before. At 17 selected facilities that auditors visited, the rate fell from 81.4 to 79.2 percent in that time.