The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the following report:

Why GAO Did This Study:

The foreign postal operators (foreign posts) in industrialized countries in GAO’s review have been experiencing declining letter mail volumes and have modernized their delivery and retail networks to address this challenge. As requested, GAO reviewed the innovations and initiatives that foreign posts are using and the lessons the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) might learn to help it address plummeting mail volumes and record financial losses.

This report examines initiatives foreign posts have implemented to improve mail delivery and retail networks and related results, and modernization strategies used by foreign posts that can inform consideration of proposals to improve USPS’s financial condition and customer service.

GAO selected foreign posts in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland as case studies based on characteristics, such as delivery and retail changes and country size and location. GAO reviewed foreign posts’ documents, including annual reports and strategic plans related to delivery and retail network changes and innovations. GAO met with foreign post officials, toured their retail facilities, received briefings on their delivery and retail networks and other areas, and met with regulators, labor unions, and mailers to obtain their views on the effects of their posts’ modernization efforts. USPS generally agreed with GAO’s findings and mentioned both its own modernization efforts and the barriers it faces.

What GAO Found:

The foreign posts GAO reviewed have developed alternative delivery choices for customers that, according to the posts, have reduced costs and improved customer satisfaction and service. All of these posts now offer digital (purely electronic) or hybrid mail (a blend of physical and digital) options. Some posts offer parcel pick up at retail facilities like grocery stores, which are open longer than post offices, and are often owned and operated by businesses that partner with the posts, thus reducing costs. One post allows customers to pick up parcels from a publicly-located machine, or parcel locker, that is available 24 hours a day.

The selected foreign posts have modernized their legacy brick and mortar retail networks in response to customers’ changing use of the mail. For example, they have expanded retail access through alternatives such as Internet sales and partnerships with retail businesses such as grocery stores or pharmacies, while reducing the number of post-owned and -operated facilities (see figure). According to all of the posts, retail modernization has either (1) improved customer service, in some cases because the partner stays open longer, or (2) reduced operating and labor costs, by closing post-owned and -operated facilities, or both.

It must be pointed out:

USPS is facing similar challenges as other industrialized nations’ posts. For example, USPS has a brick and mortar retail infrastructure it cannot afford to maintain. However, USPS currently manages more retail outlets–approximately 32,500–than all of the foreign posts we reviewed combined. In addition, USPS has twice as many delivery points as any foreign post we studied–USPS delivers to 151 million homes, businesses, and post office boxes.

full GAO report