U.S. News
USPS Plans Slower Rural Mail Delivery After Election Amid Financial Struggles
Clear Facts
- The USPS is considering plans for slower mail delivery to rural and long-distance areas after the election due to financial issues.
- Urban and larger areas near processing centers will likely not experience slower mail, while rural and smaller post offices farther than 50 miles from processing centers will see delays.
- Higher postage prices and slower delivery could lead to a loss of customers for the USPS, which has already seen a significant drop in first-class mail volume.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is grappling with severe financial difficulties, prompting considerations for slower mail delivery to rural and long-distance areas after the upcoming election. If you live within 50 miles of the USPS’s largest processing facilities, you will receive your mail faster. However, “the agency cannot afford to maintain the same model for deliveries into far-flung areas.”
This change could add an additional day to current delivery timetables, although mail would still be delivered within five days or less across the country. Here’s what you need to know about these potential changes and how they could affect your neighborhood.
Urban and larger areas directly associated with Processing and Distribution Centers, such as big cities like Akron, Atlanta, and Baltimore, will likely not experience slower mail. These areas generally have high mail volumes and proximity to processing centers, so they will continue to have evening mail pickups and regular service.
On the other hand, rural and smaller post offices that fall under the jurisdiction of these Processing and Distribution Centers will face slower mail service. These offices, especially those farther than 50 miles from a processing center or with lower mail volumes, will see delays as mail collected in the evening will not be transported until the next morning.
If the new plan is enacted, packages might sit an extra day at the processing facility. This plan has already been piloted or will be tested in states including Virginia, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Oregon. In these states, rural areas and small post offices far from processing centers will experience delays in mail collection, falling under either “Hybrid Optimization” or “Full Optimization.”
To help with the budget crunch, stamp prices went up this past July. The new rates include a 5-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp, raising it from 68 cents to 73 cents. These adjustments, approved by the Postal Service’s Board of Governors, would result in an approximate 7.8 percent increase in mailing service product prices.
Specific changes include increases in the prices of metered letters, domestic and international postcards, and international letters. Additionally, the cost of an additional ounce for single-piece letters will rise from 24 cents to 28 cents.
“The combination of higher prices and slower delivery raises the risk that the USPS will lose more customers, critics say. That would come at a time when the postal service has already seen a sharp drop in first-class mail volume, which has slipped to 28% to 46 billion pieces in 2023 from almost 64 billion pieces in 2014, according to USPS data,” says a recent report.
“With record high postage prices and slower service, we are wary of what these changes will mean for rural communities and the rest of the country,” the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, an advocacy group for greeting card, magazine, and newspaper publishers, said in a statement.
“Service can only be degraded so much, and prices increased so high, before individuals and businesses lose confidence in the postal system, as the current steep slide in business seems to indicate.”
The possible changes are a result of needing to save $3 billion from the troubled organization, according to the man at the top. “At the end of the day, I think some portion of the mail showing up 12 hours later, I think it’s a price that had to be paid for letting this place be neglected,” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said.
“You look around every other country, [delivery] is longer, it’s much more expensive. We’re trying to save the Postal Service — not figuratively, not to advocate for something. We’re trying to literally save the Postal Service.”
Public hearings will be held so Americans can give feedback.
Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.
David
August 30, 2024 at 6:13 am
They got billions of dollars to help facilitate the cheat in the 2020 election, where did all the money go?
michael stetar
August 30, 2024 at 7:21 am
DeJoy destroyed the postal service by dismantling and destroying the auto processing machines in many facilities causing longer delays in mail delivery. Also the post office is the only business required to prefund FUTURE retiree benefits 75 YEARS in advance! Also any veteran that they hire, the federal government puts the burden of the veteran benefits upon the post office. These need to change!!!
Maxx
August 30, 2024 at 12:34 pm
The USPS could save tons of money if they stopped all of the “USELESS” TV commercials touting their great services. They were a “monopoly business” since the postal service was created. There is no need for TV advertising that costs a fortune per minute. They have consistently operated in the red for over 50 years despite the cost so send a one ounce letter is getting close to $1.00 and all other special services are outrageous. Just look at the service cost lists in any P.O. The advent of emails & texts has cut into their revenues but they have also reduced “ordinary mail? by about 40%. 40% fewer items should show up in a huge reduction in employees. I will be not a single postal worker has lost their job. “AUDIT THE USPS”. Let’s see where the problem really is.
lan1018
August 30, 2024 at 7:54 am
wHY DON’T THEY TRIPLE THE PRICE OF JUNK MAIL INSTEAD.
Spencer
August 30, 2024 at 8:12 am
Put an end to junk mail. Mine goes in the burn barrel. Waste of their time and mine.
mountainman
August 30, 2024 at 8:20 am
I really don’t understand how it can be slower since I, living in a rural area, only get mail 3 times a week, Tuesday, thursday, saturday. does this mean that my mail will be possibly even later. This is not fair to rural communities since we pay the same rate as other customers and should get the same service.
Sagebrush
August 30, 2024 at 8:38 am
Your businesses that keep harping on you to “not using a stamp” and do all of your business online are the culprit for much of the loss of funds.
Maxx
August 30, 2024 at 12:50 pm
So all the online businesses, plus “email and texts” have reduced the actual snail mail item volume by at least 40%. This means that the number of postal employees required for much less volume should also be reduced. But this is government and government NEVER cuts back on employees. WE NEED A THIRD PARTY AUDIT OF THE USPS NOT ONE DONE BY THE GOVERNMENT ITSELF TO REALLY KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON AT THE USPS. They seemed to have been deeply involved in things that have nothing to do with delivering mail. They seem to have their own investigation team sticking it’s nose in non-postal issues. For example politically biased postal workers tampering with delivery of mail directly related to political parties and politicians. There were even security camera recordings of postal work drivers dumping containers of mail into dumpsters in some cities. Never heard anything about investigations into those issues, did we ???
KS
August 30, 2024 at 8:42 am
They updated processing machines, of course you need to remove the old ones first. When clinton “balanced” the budget, he stole the money from social security and stuck the post office with the bill to pay it back under the guise of pensions 75 years out, the bill was paid off 2 years ago. They had to prepay 15 Billion a year pre-profit. So, when they said the USPS lot 7 billion dollars, they were only ahead by 8 billion. Unfortunately, the USPS is to be revenue neutral, so any potential profit is confiscated by the government. The post office is the governments “piggy bank”. Veterans’ benefits are NOT paid by the USPS, it comes through the V.A. There are hiring preferences, and protections for Vets, but the benefits are not paid by the USPS. Also, the government mandated a 40% electric fleet, which is unattainable, the infrastructure doesn’t exist, and neither do the vehicles, most of the right-hand drive fleet is 35 years old. They are just now starting to replace some of the older fleet. And the biggest obstacle is fuel costs. When gas goes up a penny, they lose 1 million a day, and its unrecoverable as they can’t pro rate costs to offset like the private sector does. Now tell me where else you can send a letter across the country for less than a dollar and have it there in a few days. It would cost 20 bucks from the other carriers. The USPS is Mandated in the Constitution, so it can never privatize. And the most important point, They NEVER use tax dollars. it is completely self-funded through shipping costs and stamp sales. It’s also the largest employer in the country behind the military (which does use tax dollars). So DeJoy isn’t destroying it, he’s trying to save it from decades of mismanagement, congress and the board of governors are bureaucrats not businessmen and they put limitations on any upgrades DeJoy is attempting. And now they can’t find people willing to work or can’t pass a drug test. If they do hire someone, good luck if they show up. Gen z has no work ethics. The remining work force is left covering for them and forced into overtime to pull the slack of the lazy.
Joy
August 30, 2024 at 9:41 am
So pathetic, this is due to email. Businesses are starting to charge us 1.99 if we insist on paper instead of email. First no way we pay 1.99 for a stamp,second I hate email due to so much junk. I’m not going to pay money to have junk mail removed. I don’t even look at email much. Third and very important , they will be taking away jobs. If we lose our technology( and we will) it’s over. So many young people have become dependent on it. They have no idea what to do, no communication with the outside world!!!!! That will destroy the younger generation.
jeff Taylor
August 30, 2024 at 10:05 am
Not sure how letting my packages sitting in a local distribution center for a few days instead of delivering it along with the rest of my mail is saving them $$$. especially when using Priority mail!! I pay extra to ship quickly and the last package took a week from Il. including the two days it sat in a distribution center. Local mail from the town hall to my house took 9 days, total distance was 1.4 miles! it showed a post mark from a Post Office 50 miles away, and they wonder why they arent making $$$? These are not isolated instances,, None of my priority mail EVER gets here when they say it will.
Maxx
August 30, 2024 at 12:59 pm
The USPS is just like the “teacher unions” constantly begging for more money despite the huge drop in students in public schools due to all of the new private Charter schools and the increase in “home schooling” that has brought the literacy rates up about 30%. Home schooled kids are now actually recruited by colleges because these kids are so much better prepared for college as well as high school. The way to improve education is to abolish the Department of Education and the teachers unions.
Gunny Gil
August 31, 2024 at 9:33 pm
I still trust the US mail over the internet and apps on one’s phone. I bought thousands of forever stamps when they first came out at 39 cent and am still using them. Also I use the prepaid envelopes from sellers of all the junk in the mail and send their junk back to them, especially the politcal “wants”. I live in a rural area but anything I send by priority mail gets there in time except Atlanta where they closed up the bulk stations and delivery started taking 2 to 5 days longer. Like mail from the VA with my meds and appointments schedule. I have actually recieved those as long as 3 days after the appointment date.
Tamituna
September 2, 2024 at 6:24 am
Private industry is the way to go. They ALWAYS function better than government in just about everything.