The Postal Service’s Local Transportation Optimization initiative particularly impacted on-time delivery for rural customers, per an agency watchdog report.
The U.S. Postal Service’s initial efforts to consolidate some transportation operations have negatively impacted service to customers, the agency’s Office of Inspector General said in a Dec. 18 report.
The Postal Service’s goal is to move more volume in fewer trips, reducing transportation costs in the process, at the expense of some mail taking longer to reach processing facilities, per the report. Through the Local Transportation Optimization initiative, it is reducing the frequency of mail pickup and dropoff routes for some post offices.
The Postal Service has implemented the LTO initiative in 15 regions, impacting post offices more than 50 miles away from a processing center. First-Class Mail service performance declined in regions the Office of Inspector General analyzed after the LTO’s implementation, most heavily impacting single-piece volume in rural areas, according to the report.
