WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The US Postal service is sending 400 executives to the National Postal Forum, a four day conference next month in California, and as Action News has learned there is more than just meetings on the agenda.
Leaders have scheduled a golf outing at San Francisco's Harding Park Golf Course, with dinner events including a so-called "Taste of San Francisco." There's even a dance party on the menu.
The party is getting a response from postal employees and members of congress.
Republican Phil Gingrey called the expenses, "wasteful, irresponsible, and tone deaf."
His colleague Lynn Westmoreland said in a statement, "I find it very troubling to see their executives spending such large amounts of money on lavish trips."
Action News
Scott MacFarlane has learned the US House Oversight Committee is now considering a formal hearing into wasteful travel by federal agencies in the wake of our story.
The postal service is kicking back at the critics. It says it earns more than it spends at the National Postal Forum.
At a similar event at an orlando resort last year, the agency said it earned $73,000 for every dollar it spent.
One of the customers at the San Francisco conference says face-to-face meetings with postal executives are vital.
"The postal service, like everything else, is a changing industry," said Peterlein, who runs a consulting company. "it's not just mail anymore. It's all the new things the postal service is introducing that people can learn about there"
We should mention the agency says its employees will have to pay for their own golf, which includes a $125 registration fee. But the postal service will pick up the tab for the travel.
One republican congressman sent a letter to the postmaster general demanding a justification for the expenses we uncovered.
The postal service is dangerously close to insolvency. It plans on canceling most Saturday mail delivery to your home in the coming months.
