USPS Proposes Changes to Save $3 Billion a Year, Starting by 2025: NPR

U.S. Postal Service delivery vehicles are parked outside a post office in Boys Town, Nebraska, on August 18, 2020.

Nati Harnik/AP

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Nati Harnik/AP

The U.S. Postal Service wants to save $3 billion a year on changes that reflect its greater reliance on streamlined regional networks — while maintaining local mail delivery times of one to three days and allowing customers to track some delivery schedules with greater precision.

Election mail will not be affected, officials said.

The proposal, announced Thursday, would adjust mail delivery times while maintaining the commitment of a maximum five-day delivery for the flagship nationwide Ground Advantage program and a maximum three-day delivery for local first-class mail.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the changes coming next year are needed to “enable us to operate more efficiently and more reliably, to grow our business and to give us a chance at a sustainable future” after an 80% decline in first-class mail since 1997 and a corresponding growth in packages. In total, the Postal Service racked up more than $87 billion in losses between 2007 and 2020.

The details were released by the Postal Service ahead of a Sept. 5 meeting where the proposed changes will be discussed with stakeholders before being submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission.

Election mail and holiday package deliveries will not be affected because the proposed changes do not take effect until next year, officials said. Medicines are also expected to continue to be delivered at their current pace, or even faster, under the proposal.

The proposal reflects the Postal Service’s push to reorganize its processing and transportation network with an emphasis on regional centers, which has already begun in Atlanta, Richmond, Va., and Portland, Ore. The changes to better utilize existing ground networks mean the Postal Service must adjust pickup and drop-off times between post offices and processing centers, a process that will increase the speed at which some mail moves, officials said.

Postal customers who live closer to regional centers will see the biggest reductions in mail transit times; transit times for some rural customers could increase while remaining within existing service standards, an official said.

U.S. Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly, a frequent critic of DeJoy’s changes, was unimpressed with the proposal.

“Any attempt to degrade service while raising prices is a recipe for a death spiral at the Postal Service,” Connolly, a Virginia Democrat, said in a statement. “This is the second time Postmaster General DeJoy has proposed lowering service standards. He might as well announce a return to horse-drawn carriages.”

The proposal is in line with the organization’s mandate to be financially self-sustaining while continuing to deliver to every address across the country six days a week. If adopted, 75 percent of first-class mail would see no change from current service standards, and about two-thirds of mail would be delivered in three days or less, the Postal Service said.