Postal Service to limit next-day guarantee

From CNNMoney / WASHINGTON  — On Monday, the U.S. Postal Service will announce a cost-savings proposal that would eliminate the current guarantee of next-day delivered first-class mail.

The financially strapped agency will present to its overseers a proposal to change its national standard for first-class mail to two-to-five days from one-to-three, according to interviews with several mail industry officials who received a presentation by the agency this week.

“This isn’t a change we’re happy about,” said Art Sackler, executive director of the National Postal Policy Council, a trade group for large mailers. “But if they don’t cut somewhere and substantially, they’re going to run out of cash next summer. It’s one of the lesser evils.”

Right now, customers on average receive mail the day after it was mailed, according the postal service. That may still happen, but a lot less frequently under the proposed rules, say the insiders who were briefed on the proposal.

The proposed rules are not asurprise. The postal service asked for public comment in September on “eliminating the expectation of overnight service” for first class mail. But it could have a major impact on customers, especially those who still use the mail to pay their bills.

It wasn’t immediately clear when the plan could take effect.

“These changes are being proposed, because they will allow for significant consolidation of the entire postal network in terms of facilities, processing equipment, vehicles and employee workforce,” said U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Sue Brennan.

Some businesses have avoided the use of bulk mail because it is often delivered slower than first-class mail. With this latest change, business mailers will have one less reason to avoid using bulk mail.

Bulk mail is delivered at about half the price of first-class mail.

Posted by Accurate Mailing Services, Inc.

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