The United States Postal Service (USPS) will be busy processing and delivering election and holiday mail through the rest of the year. It will be a time of high visibility when the agency has the opportunity to show taxpayers, legislators, and regulators that it can do its job in a cost-effective and efficient manner. But in November, when the USPS formally announces its financial results for fiscal year (FY) 2024, it will show that implementation of the Delivering for America plan has delivered an $8 billion loss, which is 25 percent greater than the FY 2023 loss and 25 percent more than the agency’s estimated loss.
The USPS is not only losing money, but also failing to meet any of its mail service standards anywhere in the country, even after it had previously lowered them to make them easier to meet. There are reports of disastrous service in certain areas, especially where the Postal Service has re-routed mail and rolled out big new centralized processing facilities.
Quite simply, implementation of the Delivering for America plan has made matters worse. The USPS is making misguided choices that have worsened its finances and services. Mailers are paying 39 percent more for postage they did four years ago and getting less for their money.