The U.S. Postal Service appears to be robbing resources from one sector of their customer service to help expedite service for another.
According to a report from the Washington Post, top USPS officials are mulling plans to allow slower mail delivery in the coming months for long-distance and rural service to cut costs at the financially troubled agency starting after the November General Election.
The changes would give customers within 50 miles of the Postal Service’s largest processing facilities faster delivery service, which accounts for the vast majority of mail and packages, according to US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
For rural customers that means an additional day added to current delivery timetables, though mail would still be delivered in five days or less across the country. The Postal Service filed plans Thursday with its regulator to hold public hearings to solicit feedback on the proposed changes. The plan has already drawn criticism from several members of Congress. 13th District Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski is a part of a bipartisan call for transparency. She calls the plan short-sighted: “It’s unacceptable that Postmaster DeJoy’s solution to poor postal delivery rates is further reductions in mail processing capacity. I’m calling on him to halt these misguided plans and give us answers on how they will impact delivery rates in our communities.”
In the plans under discussion, the Postal Service would allow mail and packages to sit at certain facilities for an extra day instead of transporting them immediately for processing and delivery extending acceptable delivery times for mail traveling longer distances. The new delivery standards require the approval of the agency’s nine-member governing board. They also must be reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission, though the panel’s recommendation is nonbinding.
The agency is on pace to lose more than $7 billion in the 2024 fiscal year.