The U.S. Postal Service said Monday that it would slow delivery times for nearly a third of all first-class packages as part of its effort to lower costs and reduce its reliance on air transportation.

The new service standards, scheduled to go into effect May 1, will add up to one or two days to some packages traveling long distances. Most package delivery times will be unaffected, and a small amount will arrive one day sooner.

The longer delivery times are part of the Postal Service’s plan to reduce more than $160 billion in projected losses over the next decade Postmaster General Louis DeJoy introduced the plan last year, which broadly called for slower delivery times, higher shipping rates and pivoting the Postal Service to deliver more packages.

“This action will contribute to our cost savings efforts and improve our reliability across all product classes, including our growing package market,” Mr. DeJoy said Monday..

The slower delivery speeds will allow the Postal Service to use more trains and trucks to transport parcels instead of an air network, which it says is more costly and has reliability issues.

The agency proposed the new delivery standards for first-class packages in May. The plan drew skepticism from the Postal Regulatory Commission, which said in a September advisory opinion that the Postal Service’s cost-savings estimates may be overstated and that the proposal “would not substantially affect the Postal Service’s overall financial condition.”

“At present, the Postal Service has not demonstrated that it can achieve reliability, efficiency, and economy in its service standard changes,” the federal watchdog said.

The regulator acknowledged that it has limited oversight of the Postal Service’s package-delivery business compared with its mail service, with adjustments to price and service quality being largely left to the discretion of the agency’s Board of Governors.

The Postal Service also said Monday that it would be removing an extra day it had allotted to Priority Mail ground deliveries at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The measure will remain in place for Priority Mail transported by air until reliability from its transportation partners improves.

LINK: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u...634?mod=hp_lead_pos6

Good gravy! Can they get any worse!

Who cares? I rarely get anything of value except flyers and junk mail. Anything of importance is via electronic mail these days. With the exception of packages I wouldn't miss it. Three times a week delivery would work just fine.

The most useful service is the Click and Ship. I use it often.

And the price of first-class postage is going up, don't forget.

"Pay more! Get less!
Way to go, USPS!"

First class, my hiney.

“We’re in financial trouble because of our crappy service. Let’s make our service worse. That should fix it.”

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
“We’re in financial trouble because of our crappy service. Let’s make our service worse. That should fix it.”

And raise our prices!

Worse service with higher prices will surely endear the public to us!

quote:

The measure will remain in place for Priority Mail transported by air until reliability from its transportation partners improves.

In other words, Fedex isn't a reliable service. USPS doesn't own aircraft, they use Fedex to fly parcels.
But it's ok, add another day of delivery to deliver junk mail (Amazon packages).

Probably need electric planes.

Come on boys and girls, its government after all. If you're expecting anything approaching efficiency, effectiveness, or financial responsibility, don't look to government on any level. The PO is simply a symptom of an overall bigger problem.

The USPS shocked me to my core last weekend! I shipped a small box to another member and it not only arrived, it arrived a day early!

They’re switching to the new plan of one day delivery.


It will get there.

One day.

Who knows what day…

I dont think they are federally funded are they?

Not federally funded however it is owned entirely by the United States Government, the USPS functions as if it were a private corporation.

It is run by an 11-member Board of Governors appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, with one member -- the Postmaster General -- acting as the Chief Executive Officer.

Government funding has zero to do with its inability to operate effectively, if the revenue isn't sufficient from operations, raise the fees until it is.

Shipped a package from CFL to CKS, small package, $8 ground, took 4 whole days to get to Jax from MCO, I can drive to Jax in a few hours in heavy traffic. 10 days to get to KS from FL..

It was labeled with bar codes and USPS shipping label, so no bad address or hard to read labels.

Just slow service.

Look at the people they hire, realize that they're also union and it's almost impossible to fire them and you can see where the problem lies.

I'd be willing to bet that even at my age I could go on a route with the regular delivery person for 1 week, then do it myself at least 2 hours faster than the person doing it.

United States Postal Service is mostly useless now, as they specialize in shipping lbs of junk mail to every household in the country on a daily basis. The amount of shit they put in my mailbox and everyone else's is crazy. Completely useless and completely wasteful agency of the United States government. Anything useful or important never comes via the usps, the organization is no longer useful.

I'm waiting on a revolver that was shipped Apr 11th, Oregon To Louisville area. Tracking Friday said delivery Mon 18th. Now tracking says delayed in transit.

Fingers crossed - shipper says if it doesn't show up he will cut me a check and I won't have to deal with insurance.

Perhaps we should reinstate the Pony Express. It's environmentally friendly and probably faster than USPS; especially in light of this latest statement.

Mailed my State taxes on April 4, sent them certified,($7) they arrived on April 14. Sad part is that I could have driven them there over a long lunch break, only about 100 miles away.

Gee, I thought that all that postage money we pay to send letters and packages was to pay for the shipping and delivery. I can see the continued deterioration of service until the USPS simply goes out of business. How long will it be before there will be no need for letters? Packages are somewhat different, but a lot of packages are delivered now by agencies other than the USPS.

How long would you wait before starting an inquiry? Revolver is insured for over $1000 and mailed ground, signature required. USPS acknowledged receipt April 11th. I'm thinking if there is no news by end of day Monday 25th it's time to call it lost.

April 17, 2022 In Transit, Arriving Late Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility.