New USPS Policies Could Delay Deliveries to Rural Areas

The United States Postal Service (USPS) proposed a host of measures aimed at saving the agency billions of dollars annually, but which could increase delivery times in some regions of the country.
“Depending on location, time, and distance, expected time to deliver will increase for some ZIP code pairs,” it said. The proposed update would maintain the current 1–5 day service standards for First-Class Mail, the agency noted.
Under the proposal, people who live closer to the agency’s processing facilities could end up receiving their mail faster.
USPS says the changes will allow the agency to “operate more reliably.” The new policies will yield “significant cost reductions,” with the agency saving an estimated $3 billion annually.
“Since 1997, we’ve seen an 80-percent decline in Single-Piece First Class Mail volume,” said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
The 10-year “Delivering for America” plan, implemented in 2021, is “transforming our network to better reflect today’s market demands,” he said. The plan seeks to improve the financial and operational efficiency of the agency. USPS incurred more than $87 billion in losses between 2007 and 2020.
While the organization is open to implementing changes to ensure long-term viability of the postal service, it stands against any strategy that includes slowing down and providing “overall worse service” to the people, APWU said.
“Management is already failing to meet the current first-class mail service standards even after lowering delivery targets in 2021. Rather than fix the service delays and problems, these new management proposals are to simply ‘move the goalposts,’” it said.
USPS plans to hold a virtual conference in September to discuss its latest plans. It will file a formal request with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) seeking an advisory opinion.
He said in some communities, the changes to USPS’s processing and delivery network, “have already disrupted or caused declines in service.”
“I remain concerned about these changes. There is no clear evidence that shows the changes will improve service in the long run,” the senator said. “The Postal Service has even said it must execute more changes before studying their impacts—essentially plowing ahead without knowing whether service could be harmed.”
Around 80 to 90 percent of the mail that originates in a specific city or county is usually sent to other parts of the state, country, or world, he noted.
“So, making its first processing stop further away serves to hasten its travel, not slow it. For the small percentage of mail that is local-to-local, it will continue to meet the 2-day service standard.”
The agency was moving too swiftly forward and making “irrevocable changes” that have resulted in negative user experiences for communities relying on the postal network, they said in a letter.
An issue it criticized is USPS’s plan to reduce the number of truck trips and mail collection at the postal agency’s facilities. This would result in mail sitting at local offices overnight.
“USPS has begun to implement this change without notifying the public, causing critical delays for mail that requires overnight delivery,” the senators wrote. “In some rural communities, it has eliminated the possibility of overnight delivery for critical mail like medications and laboratory tests.”