The U.S. Postal Service is having trouble with theft of its new electric vehicle equipment, suffering two recent robberies at the facility where the products are stored.
The agency saw nearly $70,000 of charger and other IT equipment stolen last year, according to a new inspector general report, which faulted USPS for failing to properly secure the materials. The review came as the Postal Service is preparing to acquire more than 41,000 charging stations to support its 66,000 new electric vehicles over the next several years.
The IG praised USPS for conducting a slew of tests on its new chargers after it awarded contracts to three different companies. It deployed the equipment to three sites in Northern Virginia, where it conducted both initial tests and three-month monitoring. All three companies initially won conditional approval from USPS and eventually received full acceptance. Management acknowledged some issues arose due to human error, which it will have to address with training going forward.