U.S. Postal Service Unjustified Spending

The United States Postal Service has been discovered to have over $700,000 of unjustified expenses based on a recent audit by the inspector general. This comes only months after Postmaster General John E. Potter pledged to cut spending by the post office as part of his request to drop the requirement for 6 day mail delivery.

Some of the purchases that were not justified or "impudent" were for the food to be served at installment ceremonies of postmasters, other "business meals", and retirement gifts. While the report does note that spending overall has decreased, the unreasonable amounts spent on these purchases is an issue which is being highlighted as a problem that needs to be corrected.

The postal service is being used less and less for several reasons. Paperless billing and statements are one of the newest threats to the post office; email has cut down on the use of the post office for sending personal letters for several years as well. Because of the drop in volume, the postmaster general began asking congress to put an end to the law which requires the post office deliver mail 6 days each week, claiming it would save the agency billions of dollars. He stressed that even though the law was reversed the post office would not necessarily cut delivery to 5 days and would work to cut spending. This report will certainly hurt the credibility of that statement and may, in turn, hurt the chances of the law changing.

The post office has not had a drop in actual revenues yet despite the decreasing volumes because they have been increasing the price of postage; however there has been fear that 2009 will show a decline in revenue and that is the reasoning for the request of less delivery requirements and the promises to reduce spending.

The current policies in place for managing spending require employees to justify the business reason for making the purchases they are, which was not done. Also, certain items are not able to be purchased, including alcohol, which was discovered in this audit. There were also several expensive retirement gifts which were bought during the time investigated. The audit recommends improved approval methods for spending to cut down on unneeded purchases and reduce spending.

The post office has some issues to correct, but with some improved systems they may be able to save themselves still and keep from having to cut delivery days. The system will continue to be monitored and changes suggested if needed.

"Postal service considers cutting delivery day - U.S. business- msnbc.com." Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News- msnbc.com. Web. 20 Dec. 2009. .

Rep. No. FF-AR-10-025 (2009). Print.

"Report finds 'imprudent spending' at Postal Service - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Web. 20 Dec. 2009. .