WASHINGTON – The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) on Tuesday outlined a ten-year strategic plan proposal that would curb current first-class delivery standards and raise some prices to $ 160 billion in red ink planned for the next decade.
The plan would revise existing service standards from one to three days for first-class mail letters to one to five days. The USPS said 61% of the current volume of first-class mail would remain at the current level.
It would change more deliveries to trucks instead of planes, consolidate mail processing, and reduce hours at some commercial locations. The plan assumes additional revenue of $ 44 billion from price increases, but officials declined to offer further details.
USPS Post Secretary General Louis DeJoy, a supporter of former President Donald Trump who was appointed last year to lead the USPS, said without change the postal service would need a “government bailout,” which you don’t want to search.
DeJoy acknowledges that USPS performed poorly during the holiday season, as it was flooded by package shipments, even as the volume of first-class mail was reduced.
USPS needs significant financial relief from Congress and the Biden administration from pre-financing obligations and other changes that could address the projected losses of $ 58 billion.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized DeJoy’s plan, but said Congress will ensure in an upcoming infrastructure law that “the postal service has the resources to serve the American people.”
USPS has reported net losses totaling $ 86.7 billion between 2007 and 2020. One of the reasons for the red ink is that in 2006 Congress passed legislation requiring USPS to pre-finance more than $ 120 billion. dollars in pension and health care obligations for retirees.
Representative Carolyn Maloney, who chairs the committee that oversees the USPS, has distributed draft legislation to address the USPS ’financial problems.
DeJoy says current standards “are not achievable.” For the last budget year, the average performance of first-class mail service was 89.7%, significantly below target.
The plan is investing $ 4 billion to renovate retail outlets, consolidating some postal locations in the city and trying to move more first-class mail by truck than by air. USPS does not own its own aircraft.
The USPS also said it could commit to a fully electric supply fleet in 2035 with the help of Congress and promises to dedicate $ 11 billion to vehicles over the next decade. Earlier this month, the USPS said it could electrify its fleet to the “maximum degree” operationally feasible if it received $ 8 billion in government aid.
In February, USPS chose Oshkosh Defense for a multimillion-dollar contract to manufacture up to 165,000 delivery vehicles, rejecting an all-electric offer from the Workhorse group.