U.S. Postal Service lacks oversight of contracted trucker safety, report finds

A new report reveals that the U.S. Postal Service’s trucking contract process is riddled with inefficiencies, awarding contracts to unsafe motor carriers and failing to terminate contracts with carriers involved in fatal crashes.

The U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General recently released an audit report, titled “Contract Trucking Safety and Compliance,” which looks into policies concerning selection, monitoring and oversight of truck freight shipment contractors and subcontractors. The report exposes a complete lack of vetting and monitoring, allowing unsafe motor carriers to obtain contracts and keep them.

When compiling the report, the Office of Inspector General could not determine the total number of crashes or fatalities involving contracted truckers, because the Postal Service does not track them. Based on data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, there were nearly 400 crashes resulting in nearly 90 fatalities that were directly related to 43 on-duty truck contractors from October 2018 to December 2022. Those crashes do not account for all contractors due to data limitations.

However, the Postal Service never terminated any contracts with trucking companies involved in a crash or fatality.

Postal Service policy requires contracted trucking companies to report any crashes or fatalities. Government administrative officials also are required to report crash data. However, there is no centralized collection of information for crashes.

Additionally, the report found the Postal Service did not always know who was authorized to transport mail on its behalf through subcontracting. When hired through freight auctions, brokers are required to complete subcontractor authorization and vet the subcontractor. That information does not need to be reported to the government. Rather, it is up to the broker to ensure the subcontractor complies with Postal Service policies.

Regarding contracted work, trucking companies need written consent from government officials to subcontract work. When seven officials were interviewed, six of them did not know about that requirement. Using subcontractors without written approval could result in termination of the contract.

Freight auction agreements require team drivers for trips of 500 miles or more. Despite that requirement, the report found long-distance trips had been completed by a single driver. It also found no mechanism in place to validate whether an additional driver was provided in freight auction agreements.

Lastly, the Postal Service’s screening processes did not always include a contract trucker’s driving history. Of the 250 contracted drivers’ security clearance records sampled, more than a quarter had not obtained clearance, had a “pending” security clearance status or had access rescinded.

The situation appears to be worse for freight auction agreements.

The Office of Inspector General report concluded that the Postal Service allows freight auction drivers to transport mail without being vetted.

“Postal Service processes do not provide any information about driving history records and allow drivers without any background screening access to the mail,” the report states. “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.”

Postal Service management has claimed the screening process is primarily focused on the driver’s criminal record and is not an evaluation of the driver’s safety record or competence. Contracted carriers are responsible for hiring safe and qualified drivers, not the government. However, the report found that a review of the driver’s driving record is required but not being done.

The Office of Inspector General report came at the direction of Congress in March 2023, led by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.

“The title of this report could be, ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind,’” Connolly said in a statement. “The Postal Service does not have a single written policy requiring the tracking of fatal accidents involving its contractors. We are talking about lives that have been lost.”

On March 5, Connolly introduced the Mail Traffic Deaths Reporting Act. Formally HR7527, the bill would require the Postal Service to collect, track and publicly report information related to deaths and injuries resulting from traffic crashes involving vehicles transporting mail. LL

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