U.S. Postal Service officials say they have the staffing and resources to handle the coming onslaught of holiday packages, and avoid a repeat of the disastrous 2020 season that brought mail delivery to a crawl.
The primary fleet of vehicles—dating to 1987—was due to be replaced under a new contract but the winning bid for the new trucks is being challenged.
Rates on periodicals would increase by more than 8% as of Aug. 29, according to agency filings. The price jump is part of a broad plan pushed by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to overhaul mail operations.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the Postal Service is weighed down by $188.4 billion in liabilities, and that he expects it to lose $160 billion over the next 10 years.
A former labor leader and Obama administration official was elected Tuesday to serve as chair of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, marking the first step in a potential shakeup under President Joe Biden.
U.S. online holiday sales are expected to shatter previous records. Adobe Analytics, which measures sales at 80 of the top 100 U.S. online retailers, predicts a total of $189 billion in online holiday sales, a 33% increase compared to last year.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he would “suspend” several of his initiatives until after the election “to avoid even the appearance of impact on election mail.”
Anticipating an avalanche of absentee ballots, the U.S. Postal Service sent detailed letters to 46 states and the District of Columbia warning that it cannot guarantee all ballots cast by mail for the November election will arrive in time to be counted.
The new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, offered a gloomy picture of the 630,00-employee agency Friday in his first public remarks since taking the top job in June.
Postal Service officials, bracing for steep losses from the nationwide shutdown caused by the pandemic, have warned they will run out of money by the end of September without help from Congress.
If approved by regulators, the increase to the cost of mailing a 1-ounce letter would be the biggest since 1991.
The mismatched identities causes problems, especially for businesses, because ZIP codes determine the city used in an address.
The postal service on Wednesday reported a quarterly loss of $562 million, despite growth in package delivery, due to continued erosion in the use of first-class mail as well as expensive mandates for its retiree health care obligations.
The Charlottesville post office has been closed since Feb. 19 and there's no estimated date for when it will reopen.
Rural carriers earn $16.25 per hour and receive equipment maintenance allowances. They may be required to use their personal vehicles, but are compensated for it.
The agency blamed increases in compensation and benefits costs for the red ink and said it would be unable to make a congressionally mandated payment of $5.7 billion this September for health benefits for future retirees.
The new outlets are staffed by Staples employees, not postal workers, and labor officials say that move replaces good-paying union jobs with low-wage, nonunion workers.
Mailing a letter is about to get a little more expensive—from 46 to 49 cents per stamp. And for businesses, rates for bulk mail, periodicals and package service will rise 6 percent.
The postal Board of Governors said Wednesday it wants to raise the price of a first-class stamp by 3 cents, citing the agency's "precarious financial condition" and the uncertain prospects for postal overhaul legislation in Congress.
The U.S. Postal Service doesn’t have the legal authority to cut Saturday mail delivery as Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has said it will do, the Government Accountability Office said Thursday.
