Need to get it there as fast as possible? Don’t send it via USPS. The U.S. Postal Service has announced that it will slow down its delivery times for some first class packages. Dean Seal reports for The Wall Street Journal:
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.
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