With Congress still seeking answers from the Postal Service on cost-cutting efforts that may also lead to temporary mail delays, the agency continues to implement operational changes that would get mail carriers on their routes as soon as possible.
In a memorandum to carriers, the USPS leadership said it will launch the Accelerated Street / Afternoon Rating (ESAS) initiative that “reduces morning office time to allow carriers to hit the streets earlier.”
The new initiative, which USPS said “will improve customer service by providing more consistent delivery times,” will begin Saturday, July 25, at nearly 400 facilities.
During this initiative, the postmen will not order any mail during the morning hours. Instead, workers searched, retrieved the mail ordered the day before, and limited mornings in the office to vehicle inspections and security conversations.
“Any unclassified first-class floor will go directly to the street with the carrier and be routed in the delivery sequence while on the street,” the memo says.
This change in operations is duplicated in internal memos that USPS released earlier this month seeking to reduce overtime and transportation costs. The USPS warned that these changes could cause some temporary mail delays, but the memo said the post office administration would address the “root causes” of those delays.
The National Association of Letter Carriers said Tuesday that USPS decided to test the initiative “unilaterally without NALC’s involvement.” The union also said the initiative does not comply with the terms of its national labor agreement.
“NALC representatives are discussing the problems we have with this initiative with USPS representatives at the headquarters level. Union delegates and branch officials must monitor the testing process, review applicable contractual and manual provisions, and file appropriate complaints when contract violations occur, ”the union wrote.
The ESAS initiative expands on the long-running Expedited Preferred Mail Delivery Program (EPM), which also reduces morning office time and allows carriers to hit the streets earlier. But under the EPM program, NALC said carriers still sort “time and priority mail” in the morning before starting their routes.
After completing your route and returning to the post office, carriers that work with EPM sort most of your mail for delivery on the next scheduled day.
USPS spokesman Dave Partenheimer said the Postal Service is “taking immediate steps to increase operational efficiency by emphasizing existing plans that have been designed to provide fast and reliable service within current service standards.”
“By executing operations on time and on schedule, we will enhance our ability to be sustainable so that we can continue to provide high-quality, reasonable-price service to all people and businesses in the country,” Partenheimer said.
Meanwhile, the Postal Service is developing a long-term business plan that will look for ways for the Postal Service to regain financial stability. Members of the House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committee have repeatedly called for this business plan for over a year.
“The plan, which will be presented to the Board of Governors when finalized, will include new and creative ways to help us fulfill our mission, and will focus on the strengths of the Postal Service to maximize our long-term prospects for success.” Partenheimer said.
Meanwhile, top Democrats in the House and Senate have analyzed the changes in Postal Service operations that went into effect earlier this month.
The most senior member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, Gary Peters (Democrat of Michigan), asked Postmaster General Louis DeJoy how plans to reduce overtime and transportation costs align with the upcoming plan. 10-year commercial of the agency.
He also asked what role the USPS Board of Governors had in drafting the memorandum and whether the agency asked the Postal Regulatory Commission for an advisory opinion on its cost reduction strategy.
“It is essential that the Postal Service not slow down mail or compromise service in any way for small businesses, rural communities, seniors, and the millions of Americans who depend on mail,” Peters wrote.
Meanwhile, House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committee chair Carolyn Maloney (DN.Y.) addressed her colleagues in a letter asking DeJoy if delays in mail delivery could affect mail ballots in November.
“While these changes in a normal year would be drastic, in a presidential election year when many states rely heavily on absentee mail ballots, increases in mail delivery time would affect the ability to receive and count ballots in a timely manner – an unacceptable result for a free and fair election, “wrote Maloney, along with Chairman of the Government Operations Subcommittee Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Chairman of the National Security Subcommittee Stephen Lynch (D- Mass.) And committee member Brenda Lawrence (D- Mich.)
