The U.S. Postal Service is moving forward with a plan to slow down delivery for a relatively small portion of mail, telling its regulator the changes would save nearly $4 billion annually and better reflect the evolving nature of mail usage.
USPS has requested an advisory opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission on its Regional Transportation Optimization plan, which requires mail to sit overnight at post offices instead of being collected each evening for transportation to a processing center. The mailing agency has been rolling out the changes on a limited basis and now, despite mixed results and significant pushback, it is looking to implement the plan on a national level.
Only some facilities will be impacted by the reforms, namely those more than 50 miles from the Postal Service’s new Regional Processing and Distribution Centers. USPS plans to stand up about 60 of those mega-centers, most of which will be located in urban areas. That has led to criticism that postal management’s mail slowdown will disproportionately impact rural communities.