USPS Mail Delivery Will Get Significantly Slower Starting Today

From here to there and there to here, the Postal Service now will go in low gear.

Friday marks the debut of the United States Postal Service’s new delivery standards, under which the target for delivering first-class mail goes from three days or less to five days or less, according to CBS News.

The Postal Service says the plan is essential to avoid a projected $160 billion deficit over the next 10 years.

Slowing the delivery time is part of a list of proposals that includes increases in the costs to mail letters and packages, with the latest hike having gone into effect in August (from 55 cents to 58 cents to mail a first-class letter).

“These changes would position us to leverage more cost-effective means to transport First-Class packages via ground rather than using costly air transportation, which is also less reliable due to weather, flight traffic, availability constraints, competition for space, and the added hand-offs involved,” USPS spokeswoman Kim Frum said, according to CNN.

She said that within what the Postal Service has determined is a local area, the standard delivery time for a letter or other first-class mail will remain at two days.

Frum said that overall, delivery time for about 60 percent of postal traffic will not be impacted.



Is paying more for slower mail service a recipe for disaster?
Yes: 93% (817 Votes)
No: 7% (60 Votes)

Paul Steidler, a senior fellow at the Lexington Institute and a Postal Service expert, told CBS News the “disastrous” plan “means mail delivery will be slower than in the 1970s.”

The impact of the change will hit some areas harder than others.

“It’s the least fortunate who will be hurt hardest by this,” he said. “Everything in American society is getting faster, it seems, except for the mail delivery — which is now going to get slower.”

In assessing the impact of the proposed changes, The Washington Post said they “would disproportionately affect states west of the Rocky Mountains and the country’s mainland extremities, including large swaths of southern Texas and Florida.”

“All told, at least a third of the mail in 27 states will arrive more slowly under the new service standards,” the Post reported.

Related: US Postal Service Goes Forward with Plan to Raise Prices and Intentionally Slow Mail Delivery



Steidler said the change will mean, in the long run, that the mail is further marginalized than it already is.

“When you reduce standards, you perpetuate a vicious downward cycle,” he told CBS News. “You tell people you can take your time delivering it. It causes people to lose confidence in the mail.”

Christopher Shaw, author of the forthcoming book “First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy and the Corporate Threat,” shared a similar bottom line.

“Reducing service will only discourage use of the U.S. Mail, which is not a formula for long-term financial health and stability,” he said.


https://www.westernjournal.com/usps-mail-delivery-will-get-significantly-slower-starting-today/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=WJBreaking&utm_campaign=breaking&utm_content=western-journal&ats_es=57139bde57e070d7cce67b2f02003c45

Christopher Shaw, author of the forthcoming book “First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy and the Corporate Threat,” shared a similar bottom line.

Guaranteed NYT Best Seller!  lol

Motto of USPS:  "More Money for Less Service."

will anyone be able to tell the service is slower?

I avoid USPS if I want it there quickly.

Calypso Jones wrote:will anyone be able to tell the service is slower?

LOL.

A little strange.  If I mail an envelop from our tiny town, it gets to its destination wherever in the U.S. within 3 days.  If I mail from the larger surrounding towns, it takes longer.  And I don't think it's due to having less mail to sort.  
Could be they've changed paths again.

I have never understood why private companies offer the same services for the same price and make money.

2cent wrote:

Calypso Jones wrote:will anyone be able to tell the service is slower?

LOL.

A little strange.  If I mail an envelop from our tiny town, it gets to its destination wherever in the U.S. within 3 days.  If I mail from the larger surrounding towns, it takes longer.  And I don't think it's due to having less mail to sort.  
Could be they've changed paths again.

About 30 years ago (when I'd just bought my Blazer), I kept racking up late fees on my payments. Couldn't figure out why because I KNEW I was mailing them in plenty of time (7 to 10 days in advance). I never even looked at where they were going, just peeled of the label and stuck it on the envelope. But when they kept showing up late, decided to find out just HOW FAR they were going. In the words of Gomer: Surprise, surprise, surprise. They were only going about 20 blacks away in the same city of 25,000 people. GOOD GRIEF! USPS never has been very good at delivery....

Elizabeth Theus wrote:

2cent wrote:

Calypso Jones wrote:will anyone be able to tell the service is slower?

LOL.

A little strange.  If I mail an envelop from our tiny town, it gets to its destination wherever in the U.S. within 3 days.  If I mail from the larger surrounding towns, it takes longer.  And I don't think it's due to having less mail to sort.  
Could be they've changed paths again.

About 30 years ago (when I'd just bought my Blazer), I kept racking up late fees on my payments.  Couldn't figure out why because I KNEW I was mailing them in plenty of time (7 to 10 days in advance).  I never even looked at where they were going, just peeled of the label and stuck it on the envelope.  But when they kept showing up late, decided to find out just HOW FAR they were going.  In the words of Gomer:  Surprise, surprise, surprise.   They were only going about 20 blacks away in the same city of 25,000 people.  GOOD GRIEF!  USPS never has been very good at delivery....

Freudian slip?  lol.  

The USPS has got to have the worst (RE)organizers in history.  They keep trying to change things to "fix" their problems, and all it amounts to rearranging the chairs on the Titanic.

One very simple thing they could do is choose a stamp, and stick w/it.  All this commemorating every foolish thing going has got to be expensive.

2cent wrote:

Elizabeth Theus wrote:

2cent wrote:

Calypso Jones wrote:will anyone be able to tell the service is slower?

LOL.

A little strange.  If I mail an envelop from our tiny town, it gets to its destination wherever in the U.S. within 3 days.  If I mail from the larger surrounding towns, it takes longer.  And I don't think it's due to having less mail to sort.  
Could be they've changed paths again.

About 30 years ago (when I'd just bought my Blazer), I kept racking up late fees on my payments.  Couldn't figure out why because I KNEW I was mailing them in plenty of time (7 to 10 days in advance).  I never even looked at where they were going, just peeled of the label and stuck it on the envelope.  But when they kept showing up late, decided to find out just HOW FAR they were going.  In the words of Gomer:  Surprise, surprise, surprise.   They were only going about 20 blacks away in the same city of 25,000 people.  GOOD GRIEF!  USPS never has been very good at delivery....

Freudian slip?  lol.  

The USPS has got to have the worst (RE)organizers in history.  They keep trying to change things to "fix" their problems, and all it amounts to rearranging the chairs on the Titanic.

One very simple thing they could do is choose a stamp, and stick w/it.  All this commemorating every foolish thing going has got to be expensive.

How is it that after being in business for SOOOOOOO many decades, they can't ever get in the black? BULLSHIT! People are pocketing money. Yeah...the USPS should NOT be doing commemorative stamps. IF....IF it's profitable then someone else should make it a business. And IF it's profitable, how come they can't seem to make a profit?

USPS has been n*gg*red.

It's going to get worse.