Wondering when a statement or letter will arrive? We are too. What’s causing the irregular pulse of delivery times for First-Class Mail? A big part of delivery ambiguity is due to the Postal Service changing the expected delivery times for First-Class Mail® (FCM) from 1-3 days to 1-5 days.
This adjustment is just one piece of a 10-year plan by the new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, to fix the Postal Service’s financial issues. His Delivering for America plan was released on March 23, 2021, with a goal to make up $160 billion over 10 years.
According to the Delivering for America fact sheet, “the majority [of Americans] will NOT be impacted: 61 percent of FCM and 93 percent of Periodicals will keep their current service standards.” However, the new 1-5 day delivery time, like the previous standard, is not a guaranteed service. It’s an aspirational goal, and one the USPS admits to not achieving right now.
How does changing the delivery times impact the bottom line? In a word, airplanes. Speaking October 2022 at an industry conference in Las Vegas, DeJoy told the audience the price of a stamp doesn’t afford an airplane ride. The USPS doesn’t own airplanes, so they must pay a premium to fly mail from one part of the country to another. Because of its higher cost, Priority Mail® will still be transported by plane, but First-Class Mail will now be transported exclusively by the USPS’s fleet of trucks.
At the same conference The Imaging Network Group (INg) shared that “the Post office is shrinking their network from 266 processing facilities to approximately 70.” Additionally, they have “Consolidated districts from 67 to 50; created 2 regions and 13 divisions for processing; and created 4 regions and 13 divisions for logistics.”
According to DeJoy, “You can’t cut costs and improve efficiency.”
So, what does this mean for businesses? If it can take up to 5+ days for an invoice to be delivered to your customers, and another 5+ days for a payment to be mailed back, then you may need to consider your mail dates, due dates, and grace periods.
Also, if you’re not already taking advantage of electronic delivery of statements, notices, invoices, and electronic payments, then it may be time to start. While financial institutions are consistently moving more and more customers to digital delivery, these delays seem to be adding a new sense of urgency to those efforts.
The United States Postal Service® provides an interactive map to check delivery times to/from your location. Use the drop-down to find the major city closest to you.