Longer first-class mail delivery times and fewer post office hours around the country are among the improvements announced Tuesday by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy as part of the agency’s 10-year plan.
The sweeping 58-page proposal, dubbed “Delivering for America,” aims to modernize and competitively place the Postal Service, including a new fleet of energy-efficient delivery vehicles.
In a new 10-year strategy, USPS Chief DeJoy reduces post office hours and lengthens delivery times
It includes improvements in “advanced package sorting facilities,” post office and uniform upgrades, new technologies for mail carriers such as mobile devices, and new employee training.
It also suggests lowering delivery time standards, which the system has failed to meet “for the past eight years,” according to the study.
It suggested upgrading the three-day standard for first-class letters and flats to a five-day standard. According to the schedule, the Postal Service plans to deliver about 70% of first-class mail within three days.
The plan states that “the need to ensure quality service while enhancing operational efficiency and precision necessitates the updating of these requirements.”
The plan “takes a holistic view of the organization and is intended to elevate our industry, productivity, and ability to meet the needs of the country,” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told reporters at a press conference.
The Postal Service also proposed USPS Connect, a series of new features and technologies that would make its Informed Delivery notification service interactive.
Employees and unions at the Postal Service were bracing for the plan’s release after DeJoy’s reforms to the department over the summer delayed mail delivery.
Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, said that “any plans that would either delay the mail, limit access to post offices, or follow the unsuccessful policy of plant restructuring would need to be discussed,” but praised the initiative to open “46 new annexes to accommodate the ever-increasing number of packages the USPS processes,” as well as its recognition “that the United State Postal Service’s strength is in the people who provide the service.”
DeJoy, a major donor to former President Donald Trump, has been linked by Democratic lawmakers to Trump’s anti-mail-in voting rhetoric. The Democratic Party accused him of trying to sabotage the Postal Service at a time when current Vice President Joe Biden was dependent on mailed ballots to win the White House.
DeJoy, a major donor to former President Donald Trump, has been linked by Democratic lawmakers to Trump’s anti-mail-in voting rhetoric. The Democratic Party accused him of trying to sabotage the Postal Service at a time when current Vice President Joe Biden was dependent on mailed ballots to win the White House.
DeJoy has sparred with Democratic lawmakers in congressional hearings about poor delivery speeds, the 2020 election, and his upcoming 10-year strategy. Some lawmakers have called for his removal, and Biden nominated three people to the agency’s Board of Governors last month, a step that some lawmakers hope would contribute to DeJoy’s removal.
DeJoy apologised in February to the Democratic-controlled House Oversight and Reform Committee for sluggish mail during the holiday season, calling it “unacceptable.”
