Last week the Postal Regulatory Commission issued an order that was totally unprecedented. The Commission directed the Postal Service to file a request for an advisory opinion on the Delivering for America plan or to “show cause” why an opinion is not warranted.
The Postal Service has claimed that the mail delays we’ve been seeing over the past several months are isolated, temporary, and do not represent a change in postal services on a nationwide basis, so an advisory opinion is not required. The Commission’s order questions that claim and goes on to say, “it has become increasingly apparent that the operational changes to be implemented by the Postal Service nationwide may result in significant service changes over a broad area of the country.”