Mail Collection Box Management Reviewed By OIG

Mail collection boxes, introduced in 1858, are used primarily to collect mail from customers. Nationwide, there were about 153,000 collection boxes at the end of fiscal year (FY) 2016; however, the U.S. Postal Service has been removing underused boxes, with about 14,000 boxes removed over the past five years. Postal Service policy requires approval by the Area and public notification in order to permanently remove a collection box.

In a new report on mail collection boxes the OIG found that the Postal Service did not always effectively manage out-of-service mail collection boxes. “Our analysis of 205 statistically sampled boxes showed that 113 (55 percent) were permanently removed from the street without area approval and 102 of those (50 percent) were removed without public notification.,” the OIG reports … (click to read more)