Background
Access to retail services is an important part of the Postal Service’s universal service obligation. The Postal Service relies on a network of over 31,000 facilities (“units”) where customers can conduct various retail transactions, and this network hosted over 655 million visits in fiscal year 2024. It is imperative for retail units to be accessible to customers by being open during scheduled hours and not closed for prolonged periods of time (such as suspensions).
What We Did
Our objective was to evaluate the Postal Service’s compliance with requirements and processes related to retail unit hours of operation, closures, and suspensions or discontinuances. We reviewed policies and procedures, evaluated 16 months of retail data between October 2023 and January 2025, and interviewed Postal Service officials.
What We Found
Retail unit accessibility for Postal Service customers was inconsistent at times due to units that opened late, closed early, or closed for an entire day. Regarding full day closures, we found 65,846 times when units did not open during the day. Staff subsequently sent out 33,791 surveys to local staff asking them for justification for the closures, and 71 percent of responses were either blank or otherwise insufficient. Other units were not accessible to customers due to them opening late or closing early, with a total of 323,983 hours of retail unit inaccessibility between October 2023 and January 2025. We estimate these closures and lapses in hours of operation put a total of $80.8 million in revenue at risk.
For unit suspensions (498 as of May 2025), we found the Postal Service should 1) periodically and regularly communicate suspension status to customers, 2) develop mechanisms for resolving suspensions in a timely manner (particularly as 103 of them were suspended more than 5 years), and 3) provide accurate status updates around unit suspensions on USPS.com. Ensuring retail units are open as scheduled and suspensions are addressed quickly will improve service to the American public and support the Postal Service’s overall financial health.
Recommendations and Management’s Comments
We made seven recommendations to address the identified issues, and Postal Service management agreed with one and disagreed with six. We consider management’s comments responsive to recommendation 7 and will pursue the six disagreed recommendations through the audit resolution process. Management’s comments and our evaluation are at the end of each finding and recommendation.
