The U.S. Postal Service will pause some initiatives of its modernization plan for the rest of the year, according to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
In a letter Monday to Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, DeJoy says the Postal Service has paused further implementations in response to reviews of mail-processing facilities. The agency will continue its creation of regional centers.
Peters had complained in March about what he called the postal service’s “insufficient responses” to his inquiries. He called on the postal service to halt changes until the agency could prove the forthcoming projects wouldn’t disrupt service. Peters in April held a hearing on oversight of the USPS to examine its practices and plans.
DeJoy wrote that despite “significant efforts” to be transparent in the Postal Service’s Delivering for America plan, “confusion continues to proliferate in some circles.” DeJoy has touted the plan as a way to transform and safeguard the future of the agency, which he said on May 9 “had been in doubt for over 14 years” before the announcement of the modernization plan.
“Prior to the Delivering for America plan, there was no path to financial self-sustainability or no growth strategy – no plan to repair the damage,” DeJoy previously told the Postal Service’s Board of Governors.
His letter to Peters stated that the agency has conducted mail processing facility reviews over the past months to analyze the efficiency of operations. Typically, the point of the review is to consider if operations should be moved to a regional facility and if the current facilities need upgrades, he wrote.
So far, decisions have been made for nearly 60 sites, which DeJoy initially planned to implement over the next 18 to 24 months. Now, those efforts are paused to conduct further analysis and to possibly receive an advisory opinion of the Postal Regulatory Commission, DeJoy wrote.
“Starting implementation of these changes after the first of the year is a logical choice considering where we are in the planning cycle, the additional work we have ongoing, our current efforts to stabilize service, and the upcoming election,” DeJoy wrote.
What’s happening this year?
The Postal Service will complete its regional processing and distribution centers, which DeJoy wrote are equipped to handle substantial truck traffic and large volumes of mail and packages. Sixty locations are planned across the country, including in Virginia, Georgia and California.
The agency will reroute its air traffic this year to 61 airport hubs nationwide in an effort to continue to reduce air transportation, which has so far yielded “significant savings,” DeJoy wrote.
The Postal Service is improving its ground transportation routes. DeJoy wrote that it runs approximately 50,000 transport trips a day but averaged less than 40% of trailer utilization.