In December, the USPS Office of Inspector General announced that it had initiated an audit of the Postal Service’s “Development and Communication of Sorting and Delivery Centers.”

As shown on this version of the announcement from the Internet Archive, the estimated release date was originally June 28, 2023.

Sometime over the past week or two, the OIG’s website changed the expected release date. It’s now showing that the date has been pushed back to July 28, 2023.

The description of the audit is the same except for the addition of one phrase: “Our objective is to evaluate Postal Service’s data models used to determine sites for conversion into S&DCs.”

It’s possible that the OIG added this objective in response to the revised list of S&DCs and impacted post offices that became public in January. With hundreds of potential locations for S&DCs and thousands of post offices likely to fall within the scope of the plan, why did the Postal Service choose these S&DCs and these post offices?

It’s a good question, and worth a few more weeks to investigate. But by the time the audit is released, fifteen S&DCs will be up and running and over 65 post offices and 600 routes will have been converted.

Here’s the entire description:

Recently, the Postal Service announced their intention to consolidate delivery operations at more than 200 post offices and other facilities into larger, regional hubs known as Sorting and Delivery Centers (S&DC). The purpose of S&DCs is to reduce transportation and mail handling costs, as well as provide customers with additional services. Our objective is to evaluate Postal Service’s data models used to determine sites for conversion into S&DCs, cost and savings impacts associated with the conversions, as well as how those plans were communicated to external stakeholders and internally.