USPS mail delivery time will be slower from Friday and Louis DeJoy is to blame

First-class mail delivery times will be longer and post office opening times will be reduced

United States Postal Service Postmaster General Louis DeJoy (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The US Postal Service is implementing new services standards which will create slower deliveries from Friday, as part of changes brought in by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

First-class mail delivery times will be longer and there will be reduced hours at post offices across the country, according to a 10-year plan titled Delivering for America, which proposes to make the service more modern and energy-friendly. The reforms could also save the money-losing agency $60 billion.

Deliveries within a local area will remain within two days, but other distances will differ. The plan notes that the former system wasn’t working and delivery time expectations were too ambitious “over the past eight years”.

The changes won’t affect about 60 per cent of first-class mail, and deliveries will become less reliant on aeroplanes, USPS spokeswoman Kim Frum told CNN.

“These changes would position us to leverage more cost-effective means to transport First-Class packages via ground rather than using costly air transportation, which is also less reliable due to weather, flight traffic, availability constraints, competition for space, and the added hand-offs involved,” said Ms Frum.

Virginia Democratic Representative Gerry Connolly has previously called for President Biden to sack the postal board of governors, including Mr DeJoy, who was handpicked by President Trump.

“Louis DeJoy has been on a mission to send the USPS into a death spiral. Deliberate sabotage, draconian service cuts, and craven partisanship will be his ignominious legacy.”

Representative Carolyn Maloney, who chairs the committee that oversees USPS, has called the new plan “draconian” and said it “guarantees the death spiral of the United States Postal Service”.

Other changes to USPS include employee training, mobile devices for post workers, new uniforms, and “advanced package processing equipment”.