The USPS inspector general has released an audit finding postal employees violated travel policies resulting in over $600,000 in excessive travel costs for lodging and airfare in fiscal 2009 and 2010.
The IG estimates USPS could save $300,000 annually by taking action to curtail employee noncompliance, and it said USPS further failed to cancel 2,491 credit cards issued to former employees, including 53 employees listed as deceased in personnel records.
The travel violations were reported just as USPS posted a net loss for the first quarter of $329 million, and as the agency continues aggressive cost cutting measures including cutting employees and work hours and undertaking operational consolidations in the face of ongoing financial difficulty.
Postal Service employees continue to exceed the prevailing government lodging rates, and while USPS is in the process of clarifying this requirement in their policy, the audit said, adding that employees were frequently unaware of the established government rate when they obtained lodging and did not verify whether the rate they secured exceeded the government rate.
Management did not agree with a recommendation to provide periodic training to travelers and approving officials due to cost constraints, and said a new travel system will be in place for calendar year 2013 – making it impractical to launch reforms with the current system.
However, management stated it would remind travelers of the availability of the Postal Service’s Travel Help web page and it plans to begin periodic communication of the policy in the third fiscal quarter, according to the IG.
