The Postal Service issued a press release today announcing that it would soon issue a new regulation to modify its existing Service Standard for overnight delivery. The Postal Service said a Final Rule would soon be published in the Federal Register that would initially shrink the geographic reach of overnight service to local areas and enable consolidation activity in 2013. The new rule would further tighten the overnight delivery standard in 2014 and enable further consolidation of the Postal Service mail processing network absent any change to the circumstances of the Postal Service. "We are essentially preserving overnight delivery for First-Class Mail through the end of 2013, although we are collapsing the distance that we can provide overnight service to the distribution area served by a particular mail processing facility," said Brennan. Approximately 80 percent of First-Class Mail will still be delivered overnight.
"We revised our network consolidation timeline to provide a longer planning schedule for our customers, employees and other stakeholders, and to enable a more methodical and measured implementation," said Patrick Donahoe, Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer of the Postal Service. The first phase of activities will result in up to 140 consolidations through February of 2013. Unless the circumstances of the Postal Service change in the interim, a second and final phase of 89 consolidations is currently scheduled to begin in February of 2014. Basic information about this plan can be found on our Information for Mailers webpage at http://about.usps.com/news/facility-studies/welcome.htm. The list of mail processing locations to be consolidated by February of 2013 will be posted at approximately 3 pm EDT. More information will be posted in the next few weeks as it becomes available.
This is the first Industry Alert with others to follow as more information is available. The second Alert will be distributed when we send the Final Rule to the Federal Register. Additional Alerts will be distributed when other collateral such as Service Standard Directory files and FAQs are posted. If you have any questions or suggestions about additional material you would like to see on our "Information for Mailers" webpage, please write to us at IndustryFeedback@usps.gov.
"We revised our network consolidation timeline to provide a longer planning schedule for our customers, employees and other stakeholders, and to enable a more methodical and measured implementation," said Patrick Donahoe, Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer of the Postal Service. The first phase of activities will result in up to 140 consolidations through February of 2013. Unless the circumstances of the Postal Service change in the interim, a second and final phase of 89 consolidations is currently scheduled to begin in February of 2014. Basic information about this plan can be found on our Information for Mailers webpage at http://about.usps.com/news/facility-studies/welcome.htm. The list of mail processing locations to be consolidated by February of 2013 will be posted at approximately 3 pm EDT. More information will be posted in the next few weeks as it becomes available.
This is the first Industry Alert with others to follow as more information is available. The second Alert will be distributed when we send the Final Rule to the Federal Register. Additional Alerts will be distributed when other collateral such as Service Standard Directory files and FAQs are posted. If you have any questions or suggestions about additional material you would like to see on our "Information for Mailers" webpage, please write to us at IndustryFeedback@usps.gov.
