According to a report from the U.S. Postal Service’s inspector general, the service has paid millions to an aviation supplier for unused capacity because it did not meet minimum weight requirements for shipping.
The Nov. 30 report details how the service calculates the costs of its air shipping capacity, analyzing 10 operating periods from a single aviation supplier between January 2022 and May 2023, finding that in 67% of the periods studied, flights contained less mail than their minimum weight requirements.
USPS paid $3.5 billion in air transportation costs in fiscal 2022, up $106 million from the prior year, but is currently seeing reductions in its usage under a 10-year reform plan by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
