The changes are in alignment with Delivering for America, the Postal Service’s new 10-year plan to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence. The new service standards, announced June 17, are designed to improve use of surface transportation, while decreasing reliance on costly and less dependable air delivery. At this time last year, the price was 55 cents.USPS is taking additional steps to improve its service reliability by initiating the process of requesting a Postal Regulatory Commission advisory opinion on a proposal to modify service standards for First-Class Package Service. The USPS is proposing to raise the cost of a first-class stamp from 58 cents to 60 cents, citing inflation and operating expenses. Those concerns echoed doubts the regulator raised last summer, as the USPS prepared to institute delays in first-class letter delivery.Īs in other recent service updates, the new delays come as prices continue to rise. On the financial side, even if the Postal Service's savings predictions are accurate, the commission said, its own analysis found that "the proposed changes would not substantially affect the Postal Service's overall financial condition." On a more basic level, the commission doubted the USPS' ability to implement its proposal, stating, "At present, the Postal Service has not demonstrated that it can achieve reliability, efficiency, and economy in its service standard changes."
It also found the service's "estimated cost savings may be inflated." And it expressed concern that the USPS might not have a detailed idea of consumers' preferences for delivery times. The regulator also said the Postal Service hadn't accounted for another challenge to its plan: the shortage of truck drivers. In an advisory opinion last September, the commission agreed that the package volume being designated for longer delivery times had consistently failed to meet goals, and it said USPS does seem to deliver better service when relying on its own network.īut the commission also questioned the USPS' predictions for the new standards' impact, noting that its models used data from October 2020 - a unique time in its history, given the stresses brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Politics The Senate has passed a bill to save USPS billions of dollars and reform deliveries First-class mail, which had risen to nearly 90% on-time delivery after standards were eased last fall, fell to 86.7% in this year's first quarter.
In the first quarter of 2022, the average time to deliver a piece of mail or a package was 2.7 days, according to the USPS. Packages were initially intended to be part of that same shift, but the agency delayed that part of the change until this spring. The longer delivery standards for packages come months after the USPS slowed delivery standards for first-class letters last fall. "Modifying service standards would allow for additional transport time and increased efficiencies across the networks."
"The Postal Service is continually looking for ways to improve performance and provide customers with consistent, cost-effective, and reliable service," USPS spokesperson Kim Frum told NPR. A small number - 4% - will move to a shorter standard of two days instead of three. But the new rules won't affect about 64% of first-class packages, the USPS says. Some packages will see delayed deliveries, particularly if they travel long distances. Right now, more than 20% of those packages have a two-day delivery standard, and nearly 80% have a three-day standard.īusiness Mail Delivery Is About To Get Slower And Pricier Just In Time For The Holidays The changes that take effect on May 1 deal only with first-class packages, which mainly include small and lightweight packages such as prescription drug orders. The USPS wants to be more efficient, and it says it will save money by reducing air costs. The new standards are part of the postal service's move to rely more on its own ground transportation network rather than using air transport. But under new standards that take effect next month, more than 30% of first-class packages will be seen as delivered on time if they arrive within four or five days. Postal Service currently considers a first-class package to be late if it's delivered more than three days after it was sent. First it was letters and now some packages may take longer to arrive.
More of your mail is about to get slower. The service is about to set longer delivery standards for first-class packages, in a move that its regulator says will not have a big effect on its finances. Postal Service truck drives in Philadelphia.
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