Six Days of Package Delivery, Five Days of Mail Delivery Begins August 2013
The United States Postal Service announced plans today to
transition to a new delivery schedule during the week of Aug. 5, 2013
that includes package delivery Monday through Saturday, and mail
delivery Monday through Friday. The Postal Service expects to generate
cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually, once the plan is
fully implemented.
“The Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to
delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and
responds to the financial realities resulting from America’s changing
mailing habits,” said Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General and CEO.
“We developed this approach by working with our customers to understand
their delivery needs and by identifying creative ways to generate
significant cost savings.”
Over the past several years, the Postal Service has advocated
shifting to a five-day delivery schedule for mail and packages. However,
recent strong growth in package delivery (14 percent volume increase
since 2010) and projections of continued strong package growth
throughout the coming decade led to the revised approach to maintain
package delivery six days per week.
“Our customers see strong value in the national delivery platform we
provide and maintaining a six-day delivery schedule for packages is an
important part of that platform,” said Donahoe. “As consumers
increasingly use and rely on delivery services — especially due to the
rise of e-commerce — we can play an increasingly vital role as a
delivery provider of choice, and as a driver of growth opportunities for
America’s businesses.”
Once implemented during August of 2013, mail delivery to street
addresses will occur Monday through Friday. Packages will continue to be
delivered six days per week. Mail addressed to PO Boxes will continue
to be delivered on Saturdays. Post Offices currently open on Saturdays
will remain open on Saturdays.
Market research conducted by the Postal Service and independent
research by major news organizations indicate that nearly seven out of
ten Americans (70 percent) supported the switch to five-day delivery as a
way for the Postal Service to reduce costs in its effort to return the
organization to financial stability.¹ Support for this approach will
likely be even higher since the Postal Service plans to maintain six-day
package delivery.
The Postal Service is making the announcement today, more than six
months in advance of implementing five-day mail delivery schedule, to
give residential and business customers time to plan and adjust. The
Postal Service plans to publish specific guidance in the near future for
residential and business customers about its new delivery schedule.
Given the ongoing financial challenges, the Postal Service Board of
Governors last month directed postal management to accelerate the
restructuring of Postal Service operations in order to strengthen Postal
Service finances.
“The American public understands the financial challenges of the
Postal Service and supports these steps as a responsible and reasonable
approach to improving our financial situation,” said Donahoe. “The
Postal Service has a responsibility to take the steps necessary to
return to long-term financial stability and ensure the continued
affordability of the U.S. Mail.”
The operational plan for the new delivery schedule anticipates a
combination of employee reassignment and attrition and is expected to
achieve cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually when fully
implemented.
The Postal Service is currently implementing major restructuring
throughout its retail, delivery and mail processing operations. Since
2006, the Postal Service has reduced its annual cost base by
approximately $15 billion, reduced the size of its career workforce by
193,000 or 28 percent, and has consolidated more than 200 mail
processing locations. During these unprecedented initiatives, the Postal
Service continued to deliver record high levels of service to its
customers.
While the change in the delivery schedule announced today is one of
the actions needed to restore the financial health of the Postal
Service, legislative change is urgently needed to address matters
outside the Postal Service’s control. The Postal Service continues to
seek legislation to provide it with greater flexibility to control costs
and generate new revenue and encourages the 113th Congress to make
postal reform legislation an urgent priority.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and
relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its
operations.
