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B-156248 1 (1971-07-23)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaaenv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: to so rWet 6 ov e tade Me Oeeral Aemthmug Qffic. except ontie basis efj t fic a o COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE U WASHINGTON 05 1 B-156248 RELEASED Dear Mr. Griffin- LM092538 With your letter of June 8, 1971, you enclosed a copy of an article which appeared recently in The Northside Sun, a Jackson, Mississippi, weekly. The article cites the large volume of mail that the paper receives from Federal and State agencies, most of which is of no Value to the paper, and concludes that, if this condition exists at over 28,000 other news-dispensing media in the country, there is a substantial waste of Government funds. You asked that the General Accounting Office look into this matter and provide you with its opinion thereon. You asked also if any study had ever been undertaken to determine the amount of Federal money wasted in this manner. The General Accounting Office has made no studies to determine whether the condition mentioned by The Northside Sun exists through- out the country and is unaware of any Federal agency studies in this area. We agree that, should the condition exist, Federal funds are being wasted. Regarding the costs involved, in 1969 the Post Office Department and the General Services Administration transmitted mail- improvement guidelines to all Federal agencies. The objectives of t'ff udelines were to minimize mailing costs and to improve service. Since that time various training courses and training aids have been developed and implemented by the Post Office Department and the General Services Administration. The General Accounting Office from time to time has done some work in related areas, such as public information operations, public affairs programs, and hometown news-centers, in'the Department of Defense. Several years ago we undertook a review of press release opera- tions in the civilian executive agencies. We conducted surveys at the offices of the Washington newspapers and wire services and news- papers in selected other cities. Our principal findings, at some but not all the agencies, were that (1) the self-mailer technique of printing postage indicia and addresses directly on printed materials, rather than using separate envelopes for mailing, was not used in all suitable cases, (2) news releases announcing the issuance of agency publications were sent to recipients with a copy of the publication attached, although the publications had not been requested, (3) daily mailings of news releases were made in separate envelopes rather than consolidated in one envelope to each recipient, and (4) mailing lists were not circularized and updated on a timely basis. ANNIVERSARY 1921-1971E07o

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