USPS Changes Will Slow Rural Delivery
There is an assumption by many politicians and believing citizens, the USPS is supposed to be profitable entity and run like a business. This is what the Postmaster General brings to the table as a solution. It was never the goal of the USPS to be such. Its task is to deliver mail to every place in the nation at the same amount of time. This in itself costs.
PMG Dejoy believes this is ok. The USPS can penalize people who live outside of a 50-mile radius of the new distribution centers and increase the costs of first-class mail as the delivery time increases. Something is wrong with the proposed logic.
The issues with the $87 billion in losses? A large part of this was the pre-funding of the USPS retirement plan. This was sponsored by Senator Susan Collins.
The mandate requires the Postal Service to prefund its retiree health care benefits 75 years in advance, paying for retirement health care for individuals who haven’t been born yet, let alone enter the workforce.
Since 2013, the prefunding mandate is responsible for most of the Postal Service’s net losses, and it has defaulted on its prefunding payments since 2012. No other federal agency or private sector business prefunds its retirement benefits. The uncertainty inherent in satisfying the PAEA prefunding mandate is creating real instability in the Postal Service’s operations. Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006
On April 6, 2022; The Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, H.R. 3076, was passed by the House on February 8, passed by the Senate on March 8, and signed into law by President Biden on April 6. This repealed the PAEA of 2006 and the need for prefunding.
Some additional information by Farm Week on the results of Dejoy’s USPS modernization and who suffers the most from his plan.
USPS changes could mean slower rural delivery, Farm Week Now
Proposed operational changes within the U.S. Postal Service aim to financially stabilize the agency and improve service reliability, but critics say the plan discriminates against rural America.
The changes, which were announced last month but have not been approved, would entail faster service to customers within 50 miles of the Postal Service’s largest processing facilities. But for outlying areas, the change could add an additional day to delivery, though mail would still be delivered within five days or fewer across the continental U.S.
The proposed operational updates will modernize the ground transportation network to reflect changing customer needs, reduce costs to become financially self-sufficient and provide more predictable and reliable service, according to a USPS fact sheet.
For more than a decade, the postal service has operated under a broken business model that amassed more than $87 billion in losses from 2007 through 2020. The proposed actions are projected to reduce costs by approximately $3 billion annually.
Underpinning the plan is the need to pivot to a network built around both letters and parcels.
The USPS is introducing “Regional Transportation Optimization,” which is consolidation of delivery and collection activities. For post offices far from regional hubs, pick-up and drop-off of mail will occur primarily in the morning. Essentially, USPS would allow mail and packages to sit at certain facilities for an extra day instead of transporting them immediately for processing and delivery.
Many stakeholders who spoke during a pre-conference virtual hearing with USPS legal representatives and leaders Thursday said the changes discriminate against rural residents, who can live hundreds of miles from regional hubs. The lack of internet availability and seniors needing timely prescriptions force rural residents to heavily rely on the postal service, they added.
USPS panelists stressed most customers will see the same or upgrades in service, while 6% are expected to experience downgrades. They also noted medications also should continue to be delivered at their current speed, or faster, under the proposal.
“Delivery for approximately 75% of first-class mail will not be impacted by the refinements to our current service standards, and around two-thirds of mail will be delivered in three or less days,” according to USPS. “All first-class mail and USPS ground advantage will continue being delivered within five days. Our other products, like marketing mail and periodicals, will also see improved service standards, with the day ranges for those products being shorter overall than they are today.”
Three years ago, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced the 10-year Delivering for America plan, but practices continue to reflect a Postal Service designed for three decades ago, he said.
Many central and southern Illinois residents can attest to breakdowns in the network. U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, has received more than 250 complaints about postal service since January from nearly every one of the 34 counties in his congressional district.
“Southern Illinoisans have been consistently facing delivery delays, missing mail and significant problems that all link back to the USPS St. Louis Distribution Center,” Bost said on X following a visit to the distribution center to discuss ways to work together to find a resolution. “This has caused serious disruptions, like delayed medications or utility bills, late fees and even the loss of cremated remains. This widespread problem is not just a service failure but a violation of trust, and it demands accountability and urgent reform.”
Illinois Farm Bureau President Brian Duncan sent a letter to DeJoy in March about the consequences of a proposal to transfer Peoria’s mail sorting operations to suburban Bedford Park. USPS officials have announced similar changes for facilities in Champaign, Springfield and the Quad Cities.
IFB members also consistently rely on the news and market information contained within FarmWeek to make important decisions about their farming operations, Duncan wrote.
U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, criticized DeJoy’s proposal.
“From prescriptions to letters from loved ones, mail is essential for folks to stay connected,” she said on X. “Postmaster DeJoy has no business slowing service in areas already struggling to receive mail on time — including rural communities in central and southern Illinois.”
The Postal Service will consider the comments received during the virtual conference and will file its formal request asking for an advisory opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). After receiving an advisory opinion from the PRC, the Postal Service will consider the commission’s opinion and finalize its decision. The changes would not be implemented until 2025.
The US military isn’t supposed to operate at a profit. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid aren’t supposed to operate at a profit. Is there legislation stipulating that the USPS operate at a profit? Asking for a friend.
I thought that initially, the whole point of the second Iraq War was to resolve the problem of “our oil lying under their sand”. If that’s not operating at a profit (as the British East India company defined profit) I’m not sure what it. The difficulty, of course, was the difficulty. Or perhaps the incompetence. Likely 6 of one, a half a dozen of the other.
@proust,
Liberating Iraqi oil may well have been a major motivation for the US invasion and military occupation of Iraq, but (a) it wasn’t the given reason and (b) the money from oil sales didn’t flow into the US military budget AFAIK.
Do you have evidence that the US military specifically acquired income from the invasion and military occupation of Iraq? Do you have evidence that oil sales conducted by the US military yielded a net profit for the US military?
I was opposed to the US invasion and military occupation of Iraq, but I know of no evidence that it was undertaken to offset the military budget.
Is this about the Post Office?
Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution, known as the Postal Clause or the Postal Power, empowers Congress “To establish Post Offices and post Roads.” The Post Office has the constitutional authority to designate mail routes. The Post Office is also empowered to construct or designate post offices with the implied authority to carry, deliver, and regulate the mail of the United States as a whole. The Postal Power also includes the power to designate certain materials as non-mailable, and to pass statutes criminalizing abuses of the postal system (such as mail fraud and armed robbery of post offices). Postal Clause
The USPS did and still does receive subsidies although in a lesser degree. There is no possibility for it to go bankrupt and not exist as it is mandated by the constitution to exist. Congress will in one way of another fund it if there are short falls. It does not have to be totally profitable although on some items it does generate a profit. FedX and UPS come to mind. However, USPS may not be charging enough for the last leg of a shipment.
During my lifetime (77 years so far) mail delivery has speeded up considerably and now is slowing down again.
The latest round of changes will do nothing to speed up delivery where I am. Best case is they change nothing. Worst case is they add another two or three days to delivery time, depending on how much of the delivery center plan they implement. If that idea were intended to get all the rural PO delivery personnel to retire/voluntary quit it could hardly be better. Did anyone even look at rural areas when they came up with this plan? It certainly doesn’t look like it.
Jane:
Well Dejoy did look at that plan of slow delivery to the rural sections. The USPS Board of Governors are independent of the President. He basically has a free rein to do as he wants. Only the Board of Governors can fire him. The last Board ws majority Repub appointed. I have not looked to see what this Board consists of yet.