The Postal Service needs to better integrate and explain its efforts to realign its mail-processing network, GAO has said.
It said four of the initiatives that play a central role in the realignment process, necessitated by changes in the mailing industry, vary in the degree to which they have been implemented and that it is unclear if they will meet realignment goals.
For example, realignment goals lack measurable targets, making it unclear how USPS initiatives are progressing toward these goals, and there is limited clarity in how the costs and benefits of each initiative are integrated or affected by each other, according to GAO-07-717.
It said significant issues still need to be resolved with the "area mail processing" consolidation initiative, to which USPS attributes most of its progress in reducing excess machine capacity.
Further, the criteria USPS uses to select facilities for consolidation are unclear because it does not use consistent data calculations in making decisions and, due to data limitations, it cannot consider actual delivery performance in its consolidation decision-making or evaluate results, the report said.
