US Postal Service begins slowing some mail delivery

As part of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year plan to cut costs, the United States Postal Service has started slowing delivery of some first-class mail and periodicals today.

“Most First-Class Mail (61 percent) and Periodicals (93 percent) will be unaffected by the new service standard changes,” the Postal Service said in a statement. “Standards for single-piece First-Class Mail traveling within a local area will continue to be two days. The Postal Service will increase time‐in‐transit standards by 1 or 2 days for certain mail that are traveling longer distances.”

“Mail traveling the greatest distances will be the most impacted,” the Postal Service wrote in a fact sheet, which outlines:

• Presorted local mail should be delivered in one day
• Mail traveling 139 miles should be delivered in two days
• Mail traveling 140-930 miles should be delivered in three days
• Mail traveling 930-1,907 miles should be delivered in four days
• Mail traveling 1,908 miles or more should be delivered in five days

As new delivery standards go into effect, more mail will travel by ground than air. The Postal Service claims its previous delivery standards relied too heavily on air transportation, which it characterized as “less reliable and more costly than surface transportation.”

To adjust to these new delivery standards, the Postal Service recommends consumers take time to plan ahead when mailing time-sensitive items and mail early when sending items over long distances.