Postal Service Slowing Down Mail Delivery, Here’s What You Need to Know

The United States Postal Service announced that it will be slowing down mail delivery, here's what you need to know. Starting on Friday, October 1, 2021, the USPS will begin to slacken some mail services. According to a notice it sent out, there will be a day or two in delays added to some First-Class Mail,

Most First-Class Mail (61 percent) would stay at its current standard, and overall 70 percent of First-Class Mail would be subject to a standard of 3 days or less, consistent with the current standards within the contiguous United States. For the minority of volume that is subject to a shift in service standard, the standard would only change by 1 or 2 days (with most of such volume experiencing a 1-day change). A

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The elderly, who may receive medicine through the mail, college students getting care packages, military members stationed in places like Hawaii, and small businesses mailing orders to clients may be negatively affected by the changes. For most people, who receive a few bills through the mail, it may not really make a difference. Thankfully, for many of us, we use online bill pay services to take care of our payments.

The USPS took comments from Americans before enacting the proposed rule, but decided that none of the concerns warranted stopping the plan,

The Postal Service has taken the comments into account, and has determined that they do not furnish a reasonable basis to deviate from the initial set of proposed changes to the service standards in question.

According to WIVB, first-class mail headed to or coming from Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories will take four to five days to arrive.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said that the changes are vital the the USPS' overall survival,

“This is about the long-term viability of the organization under the two missions that we have that are legislated, that is deliver to every house six days a week and be self-sustaining.”

You can read the full USPS document here.