- improves the use of ground transportation while reducing the use of the air network, which is more expensive and continues to face reliability problems
- contributes to cost saving efforts and improves reliability in all product classes
- aligns with the “delivering for america” 10-year plan commitment to service excellence
- Most delivery standards for packages are not affected by changes in service standards
- eliminates additional day for priority ground mail established in April 2020 for covid-19
- priority mail transported by air will hold the additional day at short notice
washington, dc – On May 1, the Postal Service will take additional steps to improve service reliability by announcing changes to First Class Packet Service (FCPS) service standards. this initiative is part of “delivering for america,” the postal service’s 10-year plan to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence. A fact sheet on the proposed changes to service standards for First Class packages is available here: Delivery to America: Our Vision and Ten-Year Plan for Financial Sustainability and Service Excellence – about.usps.com
Modifying these service standards will allow for additional transport time for long-distance package deliveries and greater network efficiency. The new fcps service standards will also allow an additional volume of packets to be transported by land transport, which is more reliable and affordable compared to air transport.
Sixty-four percent of First Class Parcel service volume will not be affected by the proposed standard changes. four percent will upgrade from a 3-day to a 2-day service standard. for the rest of the volume (32 percent), the service standard will increase by one or two days.
“modifying selected service standards is a key growth element and enabler of our 10-year plan. This action will contribute to our cost-saving efforts and improve our reliability across product classes, including our growing parcel market,” said Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy. “By implementing elements of our 10-year plan, we will provide the consistent, reliable service that the American people and our customers expect and deserve, and we will increase package volume, spurring revenue growth that can be invested back into the postal service. ”.
The postal service previously received an advisory opinion from the postal regulatory commission (prc) regarding these changes to the standard of service.
In addition, the postal service will waive an additional day for priority mail transported by ground. The additional day was temporarily implemented in April 2020 to account for ongoing global supply chain, transportation, and employee availability challenges across our network posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Given continued high demand on the general air network, the Postal Service is holding the additional day at this time for airborne Priority Mail until the reliability of our key suppliers improves.
as part of the implementation of the new service standards for fcps, the postal service will eliminate the extra day that applied to fcps.
Service standards are delivery benchmarks for how long customers can expect the postal service to deliver different types of mail from origin to destination, point a to point b. service standards are not the same as percentage targets or actual measured service performance.
With full implementation, the postal service’s 10-year plan aims to reverse projected losses of $160 billion over the next 10 years. The plan’s growth and efficiency initiatives will stimulate cash flow and savings for capital investments of $40 billion over the next 10 years, including $20 billion for the Postal Service’s mail and package processing network, installations and acquisition of new processing equipment.
The postal service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to finance its operations.
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