While mail volume has been declining for years, a main cause of USPS financial problems, the number may be reaching a baseline level on which the agency can start planning forthe future, according to an IG report.
A flattening of the decline shows that “the Postal Service still plays a beneficial role in the lives of many customers,” said a report. It noted, for example, that mail volume in five major cities it examined seems to be converging at a level of about 100 million pieces annually.
The report also found that within the overall decline, there are significant differences among geographic areas. Areas that have declined the most now have only 19 percent of their 1995 volume, but those that have declined the least still have nearly 86 percent, it said.
In addition, volumes of first class mail, the most profitable category, increase with age, income level and educational level, the report said—for example, college graduates consistently send about twice as much mail as people without high school diplomas.
“The Postal Service can gain great insight on how to best improve and expand its products and services, illuminating some of its core strengths and weaknesses, through a better understanding of why these trends are occurring,” it said.
