USPS Wants To Cut More Costs — And Some Mail Delivery Could Get Slower

The U.S. Postal Service on Thursday said it needs to shave more costs from its operations to get into better financial shape. To do that, the postal agency wants to overhaul its delivery logistics, resulting in some customers likely seeing a slowdown in their mail delivery.

The new plan, which will be filed with the USPS’ regulatory commission, comes about three years after the mail service embarked on a 10-year plan to stanch billions of dollars in losses and put the agency on the path to profitability. The 10-year plan, implemented by Postmaster Louis DeJoy, also slowed delivery standards, with the service guaranteeing five-day delivery instead of its previous three-day delivery window.

The proposed changes will shave about $3 billion a year, the USPS said on Thursday. But, it added, “Depending on location, time and distance, expected time to deliver will increase for some ZIP code pairs.”

The USPS has also boosted the price of Forever stamps several times within the past few years, prompting some critics to say that customers are paying more for worse service. With the proposed changes, the slower service could be felt by rural areas and for mail that needs to travel long distances, DeJoy told the Washington Post.