"Government auditors have just placed the U.S. Postal Service on its 'high-risk' list
The Postal Service started its “day on the Hill” on a bit of a sour note. “Government auditors have just placed the U.S. Postal Service on its ‘high-risk’ list, meaning that among government departments, they are most susceptible to waste, fraud and abuse.The reason? A federal audit, reported Good Morning America’s Consumer Correspondent Greg Hunter, indicates the Postal Service wasted more than $1 billion over the last four years. Hunter tried to get an interview with Postmaster General William Henderson to discuss the auditors’ findings, but Henderson would not talk to ABCNEWS. “The postmaster is highly accountable,” said USPS Senior Vice President Deborah Willhite. “He’s just simply not doing an interview with you.”
GMA reported that “Americans are paying more to have their mail delivered. The Postal Service recently boosted the price of stamps by a penny, to 34 cents. Now it seeks another increase that would raise stamp prices anywhere from 3 to 5 cents. And the agency is planning to study how much it could save by ending Saturday service. Over the past four years, government auditors have discovered that more than $1.4 billion have been wasted because of mismanagement, abuse and fraud. While the service was raising rates for first-class mail, they discovered, some managers were treating themselves to a variety of perks and bloated benefits. The USPS Office of Inspector General found that some managers had misused chauffeur-driven cars, hundreds of times, for their personal use. Government watchdog groups say that kind of abuse by top managers sets a bad example.”
Associated Press has noted that “Postmaster General William Henderson told Congress that the Postal Service needs a major overhaul to avoid threats to the universal mail service Americans expect. The Postal Service, battered by slowing business and billions in projected losses, recently announced an array of cutbacks and is exploring the possibility of ending some Saturday mail delivery and closing some post offices and facilities.”
AP noted that lawmakers came down hard on the U.S. Postal Service’s plan to explore eliminating Saturday mail delivery, with one House member calling it a “fatal mistake” that could destroy the agency. “This is one of the most self-defeating proposals I’ve heard in my life,” Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., said Wednesday. “If there’s one thing the Postal Service could do that would guarantee its demise, it’s eliminate service on Saturday.” “Reducing the number of delivery days will have a devastating impact on our economy,” said Rep. Constance Morella, R-Md.
The Wall Street Journal noted that “among the problems cited by the Postal Service are wage rate increases larger than the rate of inflation, rising fuel costs, greater competition and increasing use of electronic alternatives like the Internet. There also has been a drop in mail volume because of the poor economy, further reducing anticipated income. The Postal Service had announced a study of options to dig out of its hole, such as eliminating mail delivery on Saturdays and consolidating or closing postal plants and offices. The American Postal Workers Union, which has 366,000 members nationwide, said it would vigorously oppose such changes, which would require congressional approval. ‘The effect of such activity on the APWU membership would be dramatic as the number of duty assignments would be reduced and employees would be required to relocate to more distant locations,’ William Burrus, the union’s executive vice president, said in a statement.”
The complete text of the testimony presented to the House Committee on Government Reform by Postmaster General William Henderson, Comptroller General David Walker, and Postal Board Vice Chairman David Fineman, as well as the statements presented by Committee chairman Dan Burton (R-IN) and former postal subcommittee chairman John M. McHugh (R-NY) are available on this site. You can also view the PMG giving his statemen
