Texas Insider Report: DALLAS Texas The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) could save about $1.5 billion a year if it relaxed its 2-to-3-day delivery schedules for 1st-class and Priority Mail deliveries by a day according to a new study. Postal executives are seriously considering the idea and are expected to announce plans regarding delivery schedules after Labor Day according to USPS officials.
- Currently the Postal Service advises customers that first-class and Priority Mail deliveries will arrive on average in two or three days.
- But relaxing the schedule by a day would cut about $336 million in premium pay for employees working overnight and Sundays to meet current delivery schedules according to the study.
- Adding one day to the schedule would put less emphasis on speed and allow the USPS to save at least an additional $1.1 billion by delivering some long-haul Priority Mail shipments by ground instead of air consolidating mail-processing facilities and employing fewer workers the study said.
The Postal Services inspector general commissioned the study which was authored by the economic analysis firm Christensen Associates.
- The study said the USPS spends about $2.5 billion annually on mail processing transportation and other delivery-related functions.
It estimates that first-class mail volume will drop to about 50 billion pieces annually in 2020 down substantially from the 78 billion pieces delivered last year.- Volume for standard mail a cheaper delivery option is expected to remain flat at about 150 billion pieces annually.
Source: Ed OKeefe Study: USPS Could Save $1.5 Billion with Slower Mail Washington Post August 23 2011.
