The struggling United States Postal Service, which has been pushing to end Saturday deliveries as a last-ditch way to save money, is spending over $2 million to send 400 employees to a San Francisco conference next month.
Documents obtained by local California TV station KTVU reveal that Postal Service will end up spending $2.2 million on the four-day National Postal Forum conference at the Moscone Center in March.
KTVU reports that between travel, exhibit space and other aspects of the trip will cost the postal service $2.2 million. There will also be workshops, golf, a dance party, music entertainment, and a taste of San Francisco banquet, according to the report.
USPS explained to KTVU that the Forum will help to make money by creating future business, claiming that last year the Forum conference in Orlando generated $73,000 for each dollar they spent.
“The Forum is the mailing industry’s premier educational venue, trade show and networking event for industry professionals,” The National Postal Service Forum’s website explains. “It provides business mailers with ongoing training and education, and helps them keep pace with the mailing industry’s rapid progress.”
USPS added that this year they as sending 160 fewer staffers than they did last year.
The Forum is held annually each spring.
UPDATE: Tuesday, Georgia Republican Rep. Tom Graves sent a letter to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe requesting a “detailed justification for the USPS’s costly participation in the National Postal Forum conference.”