The USPS uses several best practices to derive product-costing data but changes are needed to reduce postal investments in the costing process and to improve the usefulness of the resulting data, the USPS inspector general has said.
To produce costing data the Postal Service relies on its accounting system, with costs attributed to products based on data from manual sampling, statistical systems, and special studies. The IG recommended moving from expensive manual data collection systems to an increased use of automated data collection systems (USPS spends about $100 million a year just to develop the costing data reported to the Postal Regulatory Commission).
Further enhancements recommended by the IG include the use of more granular data, faster reporting and better coordination among groups within the Postal Service. The IG recommended enhancing the current product-costing system by establishing an organization-wide strategy, better coordinating among functional units regarding data usage, and generating more granular and timely costing information.
