In an effort to cut costs, the United States Postal Service began a new 10-year policy on Friday that will result in slower shipping times and delays for American taxpayers.
Like that’s not enough, Americans will also be expected to pay more for services at their local post office, but only for the holiday season. From Oct. 3 to Dec. 26, fees for commercials and retail packages will increase anywhere from 25 cents to $5 for priority mail, priority mail express and first class packages.
The changes will only affect 39% of first class mail and just 7% of periodicals, USPS spokesperson Kim Frum told NPR. However, delivery target times will be reduced by 30%, meaning to guarantee your holiday shipments arrive on time, they will need to go out extremely early.
On top of this, USPS already increased all stamp prices at the end of August.
So, where did the government-run USPS go wrong?
Well, USPS reported $3 billion in losses for the second quarter of 2021. By the end of the year, the agency is expected to lose $9.7 billion in this fiscal year alone. The Government Accountability Office reported earlier this year that the agency has lost $87 billion in the last 14 years. Under the emergency Cares Act, USPS received a $10 billion loan from the federal government, which was almost entirely used up by April.
The costs aren’t sustainable and the government isn’t attempting to make finance-driven solutions. At the same time the business struggles, the executives have been compensated anywhere from $350,000 to nearly $600,000 in recent years.
As a result of failed federal leadership, the people that fund government services will now be the ones to suffer the consequences. USPS says it will use trucks more than planes to transport long-distance mail because of greater reliability and cheaper costs -- further delaying shipping times.
USPS said in September that the change is necessary to achieve their “goal of consistently meeting 95 percent service performance.” So, what they’re saying is that the only way to meet service standards is to decrease expectations.
Lower bars are easier to jump over, right?
If we had called a Convention of States under Article V of the Constitution, we could have forced the federal government to become more efficient a long time ago, without the need to lower service standards.
Instead, USPS is being forced to cut costs because they spent years being inefficient and relying on American taxpayers to bail them out. Now it will be those same taxpayers who are dealing with longer wait times and slower service.
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