USPS to file Proposal to lower service delivery standards

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2011 — The U.S. Postal Service today announced it will move forward with its proposal to change service standards. This action is being taken in response to on-going financial challenges caused by the dramatic and continual decline in First-Class Mail volume and the resulting revenue loss.

“The U.S. Postal Service must reduce its operating costs by $20 billion by 2015 in order to return to profitability,” said David Williams, vice president, Network Operations. “The proposed changes to service standards will allow for significant consolidation of the postal network in terms of facilities, processing equipment, vehicles and employee workforce and will generate projected net annual savings of approximately $2.1 billion.” This is part of the overall savings expected from the network optimization initiative, which is projected to save up to $3 billion by 2015.

The size of the existing Postal Service network is dictated by the current overnight transit time in existing service standards. The Postal Service is proposing, through the rulemaking process, to move First-Class Mail to a 2-3 day standard for contiguous U.S. destinations; however, there would be an opportunity for mailers who properly prepare and enter mail at the destinating processing facility prior to the day’s critical entry time to have their mail delivered the following delivery day.

On Sept. 15, the Postal Service announced it would begin studying 252 out of 487 mail processing facilities for possible closure. At that time, the Postal Service also announced it would be considering changes to service standards in an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published in the Federal Register. The Advance Notice filing was a formal effort to gather input from the public early in the process to ensure their views can be factored into the service change proposal.

The Postal Service will send to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) a request for an advisory opinion regarding service standard changes associated with a significant rationalization of its mail processing network. Shortly thereafter, the Postal Service will publish a notice in the Federal Register soliciting public comment on the specific proposed changes.

18 thoughts on “USPS to file Proposal to lower service delivery standards

  1. piss off=dumb ass
    That said: I hope to retire before dumbohoe gives what is left of the PO to the people for whom he really works for and brings in slave labor. That way; piss off and everyone else can say: I wish I had a job!!!

  2. To the “new PMG” I would vote you in as the successor. That’s exactly what the USPS needs, someone that has some common sense. All these idiots that have been promoted were of course the “bottom of the barrel” that they convinced to go into management. Now look at them bobbing to the top. I have a feeling that if we looked into Donahoe’s background he was also one of those that was scraped off the bottom of the barrel. He has no idea how to run the Postal Service, only how to destroy it. He needs to be thrown out of the office ASAP! I wonder if they were all brainwashed in Norman, OK. Isn’t that where they were all trained?

  3. to piss off,
    we are not a government agency. You obviously don’t work for the post office or you would not wish for them to bring on the pse’s , that is exactly what they want- upper management- I work in an office where there are no lazy bastards – we earn our money and put up with alot of shit. Putting that aside – this is really about union busting and lowering wages and creating no real middle class. Lets hire alot of pses and we can fire them whenever they piss us off, so basically they are not going to fight anything- no health care no sick leave, less pay, little rights, hell lets just go back to the sweat shops. If you haven’t noticed the extremely wealthy are getting much wealthier, the middle class is quickly diminishing and before you know it we are backwards in time with the wealthy controlling more than they already do, basically controlling it all (is this what you want?) You may want to look at the bigger picture. All over the country government is trying to break the unions (and the unions are FAR from perfect but they give more balance to the picture, give us a venue to fight for important things and at least to have a say in things – not just take it straight up the ass.)

    Think about it- think beyond just today! WAKE UP!!!!!

  4. Piss off fire all the lazy bastards bring on the PSE’s, who gives a shit just another fucked up government agency!!

  5. It is fine that a number of you want Saturday delivery eliminated. Do you know how many people will be let go or moved to God only knows where because there will be no where to go. Layoffs, you name it. I work in an office where my hours have been cut to 30 hours per week. I would be ok with this if the 40 hour people were not getting many hours of overtime, if the clerk supervisor was not doing about 4 to 5 hours per day of clerk work so he can get his bonus. I do file many grievances but so much i don’t see, others tell me but unwilling to write a statement for fear of reprisal. I am on a major shit list but I just f..king don’t care anymore. The post office is a very disturbing place to work. I am grateful for a job but so many intrinsically wrong things are occurring in an exponential rate- Postal workers start looking for something new…..the postmaster general has sold us down the river …..The end may be near.. Hope for the best but be realistic, don’t bury your head and think it will all go away!!!

  6. Get this over with already.Management keeps getting bonuses while real workers lose their paychecks.The USPS and(APWU) you are pityful. APWUnion are sellouts.They are cutting deals behind your back and getting favors.I’m tired of all the drama.Just get over so peoples blood pressure will go down.

  7. EDDIE IS TOTALLY RIGHT , THERE IS NO NEED FOR SATURDAY DELIVERY 120 MILLION PEOPLE DOMT WANT SATURDAY DELIVERY NALC IS BRAGGING THEY GOT A MILLION SIGNITURES TO KEEEP SATURDAY DELIVERY. i can get 100 million signitures that want to eliminate saturday delivery

  8. STARTING TOMORROW I AM ANNOUNCING MYSELF THE NEW POSTMASTER
    GENERAL AFTER DONAHOE IS FIRED!. i will have the post office in the black in 1 year with my simple 2 step plan:
    step #1..eliminate the discount for mailers putting their mail in walk sequence.
    this does the post office no good as they just take it out of walk sequence and then we run i twice to put it in walk sequence for delivery. carriers can’t haul around a thousand bundles of walk-sequenced mail. all the mail must be run so the customer putting into walk sequence doesn’t save the post office a cent but they give huge discounts for it to keep the big mailers happy. you subsidize the big mailers with your 44 cent stamp in the current enviroment.

    STEP #2.. tell fedex and ups and everyone else that we are no longer going to deliver THEIR “last mile” package for a mere pittance we now recieve. the post office will no longer deliver anyones mail but ours. fedex and ups do not have the rural networks to deliver profitably so they would have no option but to refuse
    taking the package to begin with! the usps would see a massive increase in parcel business as they would be the “only game in town” for delivery in many parts of the good ole usa!

  9. What needs to be cut is the bloated Management Staff they of non-producted Manager’s from the PMG all the way down all they are doing is running the Postal Service in the ground they are not talking about cutting their pay they want to continue to get paid for doing a terrible job thats BS!!

  10. to rich mccoy…

    if what you say is accurate then i believe those clerks excessed would
    certainly have the option of exercising their retreat rights. maybe they would choose not to come back, but they have that right.

  11. Lowering service standards for first class mail to reduce operational cost is a sound economic decision that does not hinder the American public in conductiing business or communication via the USPS.FIRST CLASS MAIL IS A DECLING PRODUCT AND WILL FURTHER DECLINE AS MEANS VIA ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY INCREASES. The USPS 1st class snail mail has decreased in volume resulting in massive loss of revenue to meet operational cost reulting in beginning 2012 with a 139 million $$$$ loss.
    The American mailing public uses Internet, businesses reward customers for going paperless even as Social Security checks must direct deposit br March 2013. Social media such as Facebook connects millions in communicating.
    The primary product for the USPS is adverting bulk business mail: low revenue high distribution cost. Emphasis should be placed on increasing parcel and expedited mail.
    Sat. mail delivery to physical street addresses is a TOTAL NONNEEDED NOT DEMANDED SERVICE THAT THE USPS COULD SAVE MILLIONS IN PETROLEUMN COST BY NONUSE OF 190,000 VEHICLES AND DELIVERY PERSONNEL. Overtime use on Monday if needed to complete route time would be cost effective. Sat. mail delivery to the American public is a nonrevelant issue as many question the fact that if USPS is loosing money why not stop delivering junk mail on Sat. as no one is dependent on this costly USPS service.
    Who pays for the massive monatary losses; millions of $$$. Money taken from general trust fund or borrowed from China at 5 per cent.
    Blood sucking politicans must face reality and reduce cost to meet breakeven cost.
    High salaries for headquarters staph is ridicolus; make more than cabinet positions’.Crafts and management unions must be dwelt with to have an understanding of USPS monatary needs or face chapter 11 which would void all agreements and contracts. Early out cost effective in long run.

  12. management is making this happen some plants are overflowing with mail and employees are working 7 days a week and 12 hours a day and other plants have little or no mail volume and MANAGEMENT IS STILL HIRING in the facility i work in they just hired 50 Postal Support Employees [ PSEs ] after they just excessed 50 career employees

  13. There will be no such thing as first class mail; it will all called 2nd class. Everyone will also start using FEDEX & UPS. We are losing postal jobs, cutting millions of dollars; yet I can bet you that the PMG, all PM’s, and supervisors will all get their bonus checks even after all jobs are gone. Maybe that is another reason why the US Postal Service is continuously losing 5.5 billion dollars every year. Oh…. that’s right…… bonus checks are never figured in with the Post Office losses!!!!!

  14. Here we go. Lets cut service standards, so they could cut about half of processing work force. Lose more customers to online bill payments and banking. Never mind the billions of forced pre-funding dollars imposed by the gov’t that got us in the red. Basically the Fed is extorting the Postal Service to pad the Treasury Dept. Oh yeah, the Fers and the Fehb, need to be funded for future retirees, unfortunately only federal workers and politcians will benefit from it( they’re in same retirement fund and health benefit that postal workers are in). But only the lowly postal workers will lose out, through layoffs, diminished work hours, and excessing out of their living area.

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