Top U.S. Postal Service officials are considering plans to allow slower mail delivery for long-distance and rural service to cut costs.
By Jacob Bogage, The Washington PostPedestrians outside the post office in Takoma Park, Md., in 2020. The Postal Service is struggling financially and considering slowing delivery to some areas.
“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,” DeJoy said. “You look around every other country, 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.”
In the plans under discussion, the Postal Service would allow mail and packages to sit at certain facilities for an extra day instead of transporting them immediately for processing and delivery, DeJoy said. That would extend acceptable delivery times for mail traveling longer distances.The new delivery standards require the approval of the agency’s nine-member governing board. They also must be reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission, though the panel’s recommendation is nonbinding.
“The Postal Service, especially as it leads up to Election Day, really does go to extraordinary measures to try to make sure that every voter who’s mailed their ballot on time, that it gets delivered so it can be counted and that their voices are heard,” said Tammy Patrick, who leads the National Association of Election Officials.
Allowing marginally slower service to rural areas, which often drag down on-time rates, could improve the agency’s delivery metrics, experts say.
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