Postal Regulatory Commission Report – ADVISORY OPINION ON SERVICE CHANGES ASSOCIATED WITH FIRST-CLASS MAIL AND PERIODICALS – Submitted 7/20/2021 – “…As an initial matter, the Commission finds that the Postal Service’s proposal appears to target mail that consistently fails to meet service performance goals and has the most opportunity for improvement. Expanding the service standard window should make it easier to meet service performance targets and moving mail from air to surface transportation could potentially lead to more efficient transportation. Although the Postal Service’s proposed changes may loosen pinch points within the mail processing network and an adjustment to the transit window time will likely add a buffer for mail processing, the proposed on-time target results may not be achievable without additional focus on underperforming Districts and Areas, processing “handoffs” training, and staffing issues. The Commission is concerned that the Postal Service has not conducted operational or pilot testing of the proposed service standard changes. The Commission finds the lack of testing to be problematic as data suggest that mail processing is dynamic and requires timely execution to provide reliable service performance. The Commission observes that the increase in flexibility may decrease network stress and pinch points, which, in turn, should lead to increased service performance and reliability. However, it does not view a service performance target of 95 percent on-time as reliably achievable for all products in the short term. It is concerned that the Postal Service has not fully modeled these changes and has yet to monitor, evaluate, and assess these new service standards in the field…”

• See also Judd at Popular Information -“But how much money will the USPS save after it implements DeJoy’s plan to slow down first-class mail? Very little. By DeJoy’s own estimate, slowing down the mail dramatically will save just $169.5 million annually. That represents “less than a quarter of one percent of the total FY 2020 operating expenses of $82 billion.”
• See also the Washington Post – DeJoy’s USPS slowdown plan will delay the mail. What’s it mean for your Zip code?  – How long it should take for mail to arrive, if it’s sent from …