Is There Usps Service On October 8

The Postal service says the predicted slowdown is caused in part by the agency's decision to rely less on moving mail service by air and more by ground transportation. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images

The Postal Service says the predicted slowdown is caused in part by the agency'southward decision to rely less on moving mail past air and more than by basis transportation.

Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Printing Herald via Getty Images

Maybe you've noticed the birthday carte du jour that arrived belatedly or the check in the post that didn't pay your credit card quite on time. It'due south non your imagination. The mail has definitely gotten less speedy.

The U.S. Postal Service began slowing deliveries of kickoff-class postal service nationwide on Oct. 1.

The price of a postage stamp went up in August — from 55 cents to 58 cents — and additionally, temporary vacation cost increases for packages and other mail are at present in consequence.

It all spells problem for the agency, says Porter McConnell, co-founder of the Relieve the Post Office Coalition, an system of progressive political and consumer groups.

"Every postal expert in the country and across the earth really knows that you don't dull down service and enhance prices at the same fourth dimension and look customers to stick around," McConnell tells NPR. "People will employ the Postal service less, revenue volition turn down and so they'll need to brand more cuts. So substantially, you're sending the mail office into a death spiral."

It's already called 'snail mail'

The service cutbacks are specially concerning for rural America.

Tom Giessel, a wheat farmer in Larned, Kan., and a member of the Kansas Farmers Union, says everything from bees to baby chicks are shipped through the mail service.

"Nosotros rely on the post for a lot of things. I rely on information technology in my billing from my subcontract cooperative. They permit discounts if you pay within 5 days from receipt of the bill. And, you know, if they keep slowing the mail downwards, then I don't get it in time to get a disbelieve," Giessel says.

The Postal Service says that 61% of commencement-course mail service will not be affected by the slowdown, which is caused in part by the agency's decision to rely less on moving mail by air and more than by basis transportation.

The Postal Service did non brand anyone bachelor for an interview for this story, but in a video on its website, Postmaster Full general Louis DeJoy defended the cutback, role of the Post's Delivering for America plan, as necessary:

"Nosotros are in a big hole, right, we're in a big hole, we need to realize that nosotros're in a big pigsty and nosotros need to find our way out of it ... and basically we can't do all things at all costs and need to bring excellence into our operating practices."

The Mail service lost $nine.two billion in fiscal 2020.

Kevin Yoder is a former Republican lawmaker who leads a new group called Keep US Posted, which is made up of mail users like greeting card companies and minor newspapers. He calls this a "key moment" for the Postal service.

"It'south ane of America'southward most trusted institutions that Americans rely on every single day in this state," Yoder says. "And this is an essential service that we think many of us take taken for granted, and information technology's facing challenges now and it needs our assist."

Ane thing that would help, Yoder says, is for Congress to pass the Postal Service Reform Human action, legislation that would eliminate the requirement the Postal Service prepay its retirees' health benefits, which would salvage the agency an estimated $46 billion over x years. The measure out has bipartisan support but has non been approved by either chamber.

Some suggest postal cyberbanking, printing and copying

McConnell of the Save the Post Role Coalition says the Postal Service should also take advantage of its network of more than 31,000 post offices to increase its revenues.

"There are more post offices than McDonald'southward and Starbucks combined," she says. "We should be turning those post offices into a community hub. Y'all tin bring back postal cyberbanking. You can offer office services like press, copying, faxing. You can do complimentary Wi-Fi in the parking lot."

McConnell says the Postal service doesn't "need to be apologizing for their presence in our communities."

In fact, the Postal Service has launched a very limited experiment in postal banking in the Washington-Baltimore area and the Bronx in New York Urban center. Advocates say the agency needs to do more to increment its business concern without further cut its services.