USPS Aims to Cut Costs, Potentially Slowing Mail Delivery Services

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) announced on Thursday that it plans to make significant cuts to its operations in order to improve its financial stability. As part of this initiative, the postal agency aims to revamp its delivery logistics, which may lead to slower mail delivery for many customers.

This new plan will be submitted to the USPS regulatory commission, following a 10-year strategy initiated three years ago aimed at addressing the agency’s chronic financial losses and steering it towards profitability. Under Postmaster Louis DeJoy’s leadership, this initial strategy already reduced delivery standards, changing the guaranteed delivery window from three days to five days.

The USPS estimates that the proposed adjustments could save approximately $3 billion annually. However, they also warned that “expected time to deliver will increase for some ZIP code pairs,” impacting certain locations based on distance and delivery timing.

Over the past few years, the USPS has increased the price of Forever stamps multiple times, leading some to criticize the agency for providing less reliable service while charging more. DeJoy indicated that rural areas and long-distance mail services may experience the most noticeable delays, as reported by the Washington Post.

“At the end of the day, I think some portion of the mail showing up 12 hours later is a price that had to be paid for letting this place be neglected,” DeJoy stated.

In response to concerns, the USPS highlighted a fact sheet about the proposed changes, asserting that these modifications would not affect 75% of first-class mail deliveries.

Critics fear that combining higher prices with slower service could drive away more customers, especially since the USPS has already experienced a substantial decline in first-class mail volume. According to USPS data, the volume plummeted from almost 64 billion pieces in 2014 to about 46 billion pieces in 2023, a decrease of 28%.

Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat from Virginia and a vocal critic of DeJoy, commented, “Any effort to degrade service while raising prices is a recipe for a death spiral at the Postal Service.” He added, “This is the second time Postmaster General DeJoy has proposed lower service standards. He might as well announce a return to delivering mail by horse and buggy.”

From 2007 to 2020, the USPS accumulated over $87 billion in losses, a staggering figure that underscores the dire financial challenges facing the agency.

The USPS unveiled these details ahead of a September 5 meeting scheduled to discuss the proposed changes with stakeholders. These changes are set to take effect in the next calendar year, meaning that election mail and holiday shipments will remain unaffected for now. Additionally, the delivery of medications is expected to continue at existing speeds or potentially improve under the new plan.

Furthermore, the proposed overhaul aims to enhance some delivery speeds by optimizing the use of current ground networks. This comprehensive plan reflects the USPS’s effort to transform its processing and transportation systems, with a focus on larger regional hubs. Initial changes have already begun in cities including Atlanta, Richmond, Virginia, and Portland, Oregon.

As these proposals move forward, the future of mail delivery in the U.S. hangs in the balance, with significant implications for both consumers and the USPS’s financial outlook.