The Office of Inspector General is tasked with ensuring efficiency, accountability, and integrity in the U.S. Postal Service and its regulator, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). We also have the distinct mission of helping to maintain confidence in the mail and postal system, as well as to improve USPS’s bottom line. We use audits and investigations to help protect the integrity of the Postal Service and the PRC. Our Semiannual Report to Congress presents a snapshot of the work we did to fulfill our mission for the six-month period ending September 30, 2026. Our dynamic report format provides readers with easy access to facts and information, as well as succinct summaries of the work by area. Links are provided to the full reports featured in this report, as well as to the appendices.
A Message from the Inspector General
As we approach the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, I want to reflect on the relevance of our organization. We provide a significant and measurable benefit to the country by maintaining the integrity of America’s postal system through oversight of the Postal Service and its regulator, the Postal Regulatory Commission.
We’ve built strong data analytics expertise and are now integrating artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize how we use our limited resources. While we only have one OIG employee for every 723 postal employees, we still provide tremendous value. This fiscal year, we returned $10 for every $1 invested in our budget.
We are responsive to public and congressional concerns, with one of the most used OIG Hotlines in the oversight community. Demonstrating our commitment to safeguarding public trust, this fall we prioritized a swift, independent review in response to a whistleblower’s allegations around the implementation of the vote by mail executive order.
Over the past year, our work has shown that broad changes are needed to ensure the country has safe and dependable mail delivery into the future. In response to concerns about poor service in certain parts of the country, we found that variations in workplace engagement and management effectiveness are driving some of these longstanding service issues.
We identified serious threats to the Postal Service through increased mail theft and narcotics in the mail. We also found significant deficiencies in how USPS catches and deters fraudulent postage and payments that totaled almost $5.8 billion in revenue impacts, including revenue at risk in the future.
While improvements from USPS are needed, it cannot fix its financial situation alone. In a white paper released earlier this year, we compiled and described 15 potential revenue-generating and cost-saving measures to address the Postal Service’s financial gap. Choosing from and then implementing significant changes will be difficult, but doing nothing will risk the future of mail delivery.
Tammy L. Hull
Inspector General, United States Postal Service
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