USPS has reported over $100 billion in losses since 2007. Part of that is due to legislation requiring the Postal Service to pre-fund retiree healthcare and pension benefits. Another part has to do with the decline in the number of First-Class mail being sent.
In order to counteract these losses and get USPS on more solid financial footing, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced his Delivering for America plan. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about this 10-year plan, so make sure to keep reading.
USPS 10-Year Plan In [currentyear]
Introduced by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in March 2021, USPS’ 10-year plan (dubbed Delivering for America) aims to help the United States Postal Service achieve financial sustainability and service excellence. USPS plans to invest $40 billion during that period. Central to the plan is boosting the scale and quality of package deliveries.
To find out more specifics about Delivering for America and what it means for USPS, make sure to check out this article.
What Is The USPS 10-Year Plan?
In March 2021, Postmaster General Louis Dejoy announced a 10-year plan aimed at improving USPS’ “financial sustainability and service excellence.”
DeJoy’s austerity plan, which is officially called Delivering for America, is designed to save the agency $160 billion over the next decade.
This plan would cut Post Office hours, lengthen delivery times, and raise prices.
In addition, the plan includes a $40 billion investment for improved Post Offices, technology improvements, and infrastructure upgrades.
Another key aspect of the plan is boosting the scale and service quality of package deliveries to businesses.
If all goes well, USPS anticipates earning $24 billion in net revenue from this service alone.
Other notable parts of the plan include:
- Preserving affordable, 6-day mail delivery and expanding 7-day package delivery
- Moving towards an electric delivery vehicle fleet (with congressional support)
- Adjusting delivery standards for improved efficiency and reliability (notably more same-day, 1-day, and 2-day package services)
- Stabilizing the USPS workforce with the goal of cutting non-career employee turnover by half
- Repealing the retiree health benefit pre-funding mandate (with the help of congressional legislation)
Barring any hiccups, USPS anticipates that this plan will the organization reach a break-even point by the 2023 fiscal year.
When Was USPS’ 10-Year Program Announced?
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced his plans to shore up USPS’ finances and the customer experience in March 2021.
Why Does USPS Need A 10-Year Plan?
Delivering for America has three main objectives. One, make USPS solvent, two, improve customer experience, and three, meet performance goals.
On the financial side of things, USPS has been struggling for a while. Indeed, USPS has lost more than $100 billion since 2007 and is currently about $188 billion in debt.
This deficit is due, in part, to a piece of 2006 legislation that required USPS to pre-fund healthcare and pension benefits for retirees.
Other federal agencies and businesses aren’t weighed down with such a heavy burden, so it makes sense that USPS is struggling to stay in the black.
Eliminating this requirement would save USPS $120 billion over the coming years, but it’s dependent on Congressional approval.
Unfortunately, this approval isn’t guaranteed. Therefore, USPS has to find other ways to trim expenses, hence the Delivering for America Plan.
Another explanation for USPS’ financial woes is that First-Class mail delivery (e.g. cards, bills, and other envelopes) has gone way down.
In fact, Americans sent almost 40 billion fewer pieces of mail in 2020 than they did in 2008. Thank the internet for that.
Nowadays, everything from paying bills to sending holiday greetings can be done over the internet, rather than through the mail.
Not only will improved package delivery help USPS make more money, but it will also help create a better customer experience, one of the other main goals of the 10-year program.
In addition to offering more package delivery services and faster package delivery, USPS plans to improve customer satisfaction by modernizing Post Offices and USPS software.
When it comes to meeting performance goals, USPS management hopes that this plan will lead to more on-time deliveries.
To know more, you can also read our posts on USPS 12 hour rule, USPS 13 oz rule, and USPS 2 day shipping.
Conclusion
Love it or hate it, USPS’ Delivering for America program aims at keeping the postal service afloat for the foreseeable future.
Only time will tell if the capital investment and increased focus on package delivery will be enough to keep the Postal Service above water.
