OIG Report Finds More Peaks Than Valleys in 2023 Season Overview

The Postal Service met most of its objectives for the 2023 peak season, according to an audit, even as some metrics slipped.

An Aug. 26 report from the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that the agency “met some processing and distribution goals, all logistics goals and most retail and delivery goals” for the busy peak season, while also substantially lowering costs.

These successes were tempered by decreased service performance levels during peak, which stretches between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve. OIG determined that “service performance declined for most market dominant products and all competitive products” during 2023 peak when compared to the previous year’s peak season.

Specifics were not always available, as the public report censored some of the relevant data. For example, it noted that first-class mail service levels slipped 5.4 percent from 2022’s peak to the 2023 peak, while figures for Ground Advantage slippage and increased package volume were both blacked out.

Hiring and Logistics

OIG determined that the Postal Service exceeded its peak goals for hiring seasonal and additional employees, along with its goals for self-audits on efficiency and effectiveness for processing mail. Other goals, such as meeting its operating plan precision targets, fell shy of 2022’s peak results.

USPS fared better with its logistics goals, with the report noting it “was generally successful” by accurately forecasting mail volumes and assigning transportation during peak. This includes lowering late trip volume 11.5 percent compared to the 2022 peak season, and reducing cancelled trips 23.5 percent. Extra trips did increase during the last peak, though only by 4.7 percent.

Retail and delivery goals were partially met, the report noted, with fewer customer inquiries and more pre-peak hires to avoid a reliance on seasonal workers.

Overall costs between peak 2022 and peak 2023 dropped significantly, OIG concluded, with USPS cutting its costs by 61.9 percent. A cost comparison of surface transportation charges from November through January found that USPS spent around $32.89 million last peak season, versus the $86.28 million spent on the 2022 peak.