On September 20, 2016, the United States Postal Service (USPS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report titled “The Oversight of Oil and Gas Mineral Rights.”  The report sought to assess USPS’ oversight of their oil and gas mineral rights.

What should surprise no one, the OIG found that there is significant room for improvement by the USPS when it comes to their oil and gas rights.  The OIG found that not only did USPS not know which of its properties had operational oil and gas leases, but the agency also did not have any mechanism in place to track or maintain the properties it was aware of.  The OIG also found that USPS needed to improve its management of the “collection, tracking, and validation” of payments from the use of these properties.  USPS incorrectly recorded royalty payments of $87,592 instead of $101,700 for fiscal year 2015.  USPS also has unsigned leases, no leases, or, in some cases, multiple leases for the same property.  

This report is just another example of mismanagement at USPS.  A Government Accountability Office (GAO) Director testified that the GAO found that the USPS was missing out on $11.8 million in possible rental income in 2015.  A November 2015 OIG report found that USPS didn’t even know how many vacant properties it owned or leased.

It is clear to the millions of Americans who receive late mail (or no mail at all) that the USPS’ service standards are slipping noticeably.  Maybe the bigger question is, when USPS struggling with its core mission, why does the agency even own oil and gas leases?