The post office reduces service and first-class mail can be delivered in as fast as two days

The post office reduces service and first-class mail can be delivered in as fast as two days (Alberta Times) The Postal Service proposed to the Postal Regulatory Commission on the 5th that it would reduce expenditure by 3 billion yuan in 2012...

(Alberta Times)

The Postal Service proposed to the Postal Regulatory Commission on the 5th that it would reduce expenditure by 3 billion yuan in 2012 to avoid bankruptcy. mail) will be changed from next day delivery to two to three day delivery, 252 mail processing centers will be closed and 28,000 employees will be laid off. The Postal Regulatory Commission will make its opinion on this plan in March 2012, but it is not binding. Only strong pressure from Congress, business and the public can prevent the post office from such a drastic reduction in service. Williams, the postal service's vice president, said the post office must quickly reduce costs to stop losses caused by lower mail volumes over the past five years. In 2006, the number of ordinary mail items was 98 billion. Now it is less than 78 billion. It is predicted that by 2020, the number will be halved. The Postal Service has previously announced that starting from January 22, 2012, the postage rate for surface mail will increase by one cent to 45 cents. Williams said that in rare cases, first-class mail can still be delivered the next day, including that newspapers, magazines and bulk mail must abide by new strict deadlines and send mail directly to letter processing centers that are still in operation; but in most cases, the standard of next-day delivery of first-class mail to nearby communities since 1971 will no longer exist, which will affect the price of check payments, mailed DVDs, mail-order drugs, and even the survival of mailed newspapers and magazines in rural areas. The Postal Service this month is facing the crisis of being unable to meet its payment obligations, which is to pay the Treasury Department an annual payment of 5.5 billion yuan for the health insurance benefits of its retired employees, and it is expected to have a record loss of 14 billion yuan next year. The Postal Service's spending reduction plan includes closing 252 of the country's 461 letter processing centers next spring, which will result in the layoff of 28,000 employees; the merger of letter processing centers will lengthen the distance for letters from post offices to processing centers, and the Postal Service will also lower the standards for letter delivery times. Currently, in the United States, the delivery time for surface mail is one to three days, and next year it will be two to three days, and periodicals will be delivered within two to nine days. Currently, 42% of ordinary letters are delivered on the next day, 27% are delivered on two days, 31% are delivered on three days, and less than 1% are delivered on four days. After next spring, it is expected that 51% of ordinary letters will be delivered on two days, and most of the rest will be delivered on three days.