WASHINGTON — Lax oversight by the U.S. Postal Service of the trucking companies, brokers, and drivers it contracts could be contributing to accidents and deaths on the nation’s highways, based on the results of a new safety report.
The audit, released on Friday by the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), was requested by Congress last year following a Wall Street Journal investigation into safety violations and fatal crashes involving long-distance carriers that haul mail for the agency.
The Postal Service does not track accidents and fatalities involving its trucking contractors, the OIG audit revealed, and therefore auditors were unable to provide Congress with a complete set of accident data.
Analyzing official but incomplete data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the OIG identified 373 accidents resulting in 89 fatalities directly related to 43 on-duty contractors servicing Postal Service trucking contracts.
“These 43 contractors were associated with Postal Service contracts totaling about $1.34 billion between October 2018 and December 2022,” according to the audit. “We determined that the Postal Service had not terminated any contracts with trucking companies involved in accidents or fatalities prior to March 2023.”
While the agency told OIG that it is taking actions to remedy the problem – including starting to remove contractors with an FMCSA “conditional” safety rating, the lack of established policies to track and monitor accident and fatality data from its truck contractors “limits the Postal Service’s visibility into contractor safety performance,” the OIG stated. “This deficiency could allow unsafe drivers to transport mail and put other motorists at risk.”
Brokers left on their own
The audit also found that 14 of the 15 contracting and administrative officers interviewed did not know when trucking companies hired for highway contract routes (HCRs) used a subcontractor. In addition, brokers for the agency’s freight auction contracts – used to purchase extra capacity when contractors can’t fulfill HCRs – were not required to obtain approval or inform the Postal Service of subcontractors they hire.
“The Postal Service relied on the broker to complete subcontractor authorization and vet the subcontractor, but those results are not required to be reported to the Postal Service,” the audit stated. “The onus is on the broker to ensure the subcontractor is in compliance with Postal Service policies.”
Another significant deficiency found by the OIG: the Postal Service did not require comprehensive vetting of drivers for 241,006 freight auction trips in FY22 and FY23, which led to some of those drivers not being vetted at all.
“Postal Service processes do not provide any information about driving history records and allow drivers without any background screening access to the mail,” the audit noted. “As the volume of routes selected via the freight auction process continues to rise, using a weak screening process could lead to unqualified drivers transporting mail, compromising security of mail and safety of motorists.”
Regulations coming?
The OIG issued seven recommendations based on its findings, including developing a reporting system for subcontractors and putting in place a formal process to verify driver history.
In a statement to the Truck Safety Coalition, which has been pressuring the Postal Service to make reforms on behalf of crash victims, U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said the report “confirmed several of our worst fears about contract trucking practices at the United States Postal Service.”
Connolly, who has pushed for reforms in Congress, plans to introduce the “Mail Traffic Deaths Reporting Act,” legislation that would require that Postal Service truck contractors and subcontractors report to the agency all crashes in which they are involved that result in injury or death not later than three days after the crash.
“I have met with the victims of these trucking accidents. They want to be seen,” Connolly said. “The report calls out for legislative action, and we are going to answer that call.”
Mark Stewart
This is absolutely no surprising, since the Post Office administration is getting rid of Certified Mail Haulers, and letting anyone who has a truck , haul mail.
Driver’s used to be vetted, have a postal badge to pick up loads. That’s all gone now, as alot of the drivers now, can’t even speak English. They have their whole families in the truck, not what you call safe, or running on time.
The Post Office is getting exactly what the Post Master General wanted….
Cheap hauling
Tony Edwards
My family member was killed by a contractor through US mail and my friends family was all injured. Unfortunately, the contractor did not have insurance, so therefore, no conversation for me or my family
Nicole
Like thousands of unsafe carriers, they get away with making an employee feel trapped and forced to choose between unsafe equipment/hos violations or their ability to pay their bills. Once they’ve quit too many jobs over safety they’re considered “job hoppers” and become unhireable. Most will end up choosing the paycheck and later on end up sideways somewhere and out of a job or life anyway. The fmcsa/dot has no response for a driver that calls in to report a carrier trying to make a driver do something unsafe and once the driver refuses, they will not be fired immediately but like in my case I was “let go” a few weeks later with an invalid excuse. If you report issues you will be let go, not fired, but laid off. This is because you are not the desired fool that will run bad equipment all day and shut up so cutting you loose is their way to keep rolling without having to abide by federal and state laws. Laying you off keeps you from pursuing wrongful termination or a lawsuit of unsafe practices. Keep believing regulations on top of regulations will solve the problem. I gave a very clear explanation above how these trucking companies prefer unsafe drivers, especially the ones that are good at avoiding weighstations and rigging bad equipment. Meanwhile someone like me with a perfect record and no violations along with plenty of experience cannot get hired anywhere. It’s all about safety though, isn’t it? Americans deserve what they get because this is the garbage they elected and the fmcsa appears to be siding with unsafe carriers since they brushed off my complaints that ultimately lead to a useless cdl. I chose the life of myself and strangers that lead to the demise of my career. But keep telling me allll about safety.
The Alien
All the PO cares about is who bids it cheapest. No worry about who the contractor hires to drive, what condition the equipment is in, if the drivers are being paid wages per the contract. Nothing but low bidder.
Jonathan Nygaard
Thank you for writing this article John. Finally someone has said something. Unfortunately you’re only scratching the tip of the iceberg. Many people are losing their jobs and/or getting laid off because they are running loads strictly off a broker board. I’m not even sure how half these drivers obtained a cdl. I’ve been at post offices and seeing 4-5 guys in one truck. None of these drivers are vetted in any way, mail is getting stolen, loads are late and sometimes they don’t even show up. The whole broker board is a whole other situation. You might want to look a little deeper into that too. Thanks again hopefully somebody somewhere fixes this situation very soon
CR
It is FMCSA’s responsibility to vet these trucking companies not the responsibility of brokers, the post office, or anyone else. They are the ones allowing these unsafe and underqualified people the authority to operate. Stop letting just anyone go get a truck and authorities. The new entrant audit is too lax and the continued monitoring of these carriers is nearly non existant even when there are violations and accidents on a carriers record. Just another bulky government agency not doing it’s job and trying to shift the blame on others.
Brian
I worked for Causley trucking in Saginaw, MI for a short stint a few years back. I delivered& picked up mail for the postal service. There was no safety training at Causley or at USPS. The lack of SOP’s was evident from the beginning & many times employees from Causley would drive a company vehicle 3 hrs away to another terminal & told they would not be paid for that time & to not log that time as on duty per FMSCA rules for cdl drivers. I left quickly because safety was Causley least concern.
Stephen webster
All divers need to be paid at the union when hauling a number A T A members have hauling mail using lease ops at about the wage with out the lease ops meeting any security standards.