The U.S. Postal Service today joins a list of troubled government agencies and programs, as auditors acknowledge that the nation’s rapidly declining mail volume has placed a large financial strain on the nation’s mail agency.
The Government Accountability Office will add the Postal Service to its “high risk” list, according to Congressional sources, ahead of a House hearing on Thursday that will further explore the future of American mail service. Proposals call for trimming mail delivery to five days a week and for the closure of some large postal facilities or community post offices nationwide. As part of the cutbacks, USPS has removed at least 200,000 “underperforming” blue mailboxes from city streets, rural routes and suburban neighborhoods in the last two decades.
The GAO will release a formal explanation of its decision later today. (The Eye will post highlights once it’s released.)
The “high risk” list is a biennial accounting of agencies and programs costing taxpayers billions of dollars annually due to waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement. In most cases, GAO recommends the executive branch take corrective action or that Congress pass legislation to fix the problems.
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