(CBS MONEYWATCH) — The U.S. Postal Service is investing in new package sorting machines and hiring new workers to prep for the crucial holiday season, with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Wednesday saying the agency is “ready” for the busy season.
“So send us your packages and your mail —and we will deliver timely,” DeJoy said at the USPS Board of Governors meeting on Wednesday.
Yet the postal service is already missing its delivery standards: In October, a month when mail volume is typically lighter than the holiday season, 91% of mail was delivered on time — lower than its goal of delivering 95% on time. And those missed standards already represent the USPS’ new lower delivery guidelines, which went into effect in October and slowed delivery for 4 out of 10 pieces of mail.
“It underscores they aren’t performing and doing what they said they were going to do,” noted Paul Steidler, senior fellow at the Lexington Institute and an expert on the postal service. “It’s especially not great for October because it’s a slow month for mail, so it’s not a good barometer” for the performance during the coming holiday season.