Gov. Stroman: ‘Need to Slow Down Network Changes’

Ongoing USPS network changes should be decelerated until service targets are achieved, according to one of the agency’s governors. 

Ron Stroman of the USPS Board of Governors said during a May 9 board meeting the Postal Service’s network changes should continue, “but we need to proceed carefully.” 

“At last November’s open session, I said we should give the network change a fair opportunity to improve service,” Stroman said. “And while that does remain true, six months later that opportunity has yielded declining service performance. Slowing further network changes and reexamining our plans is the responsible next step.” 

Once service gets closer to 2024 target levels, Stroman opined, changes should be implemented more gradually. He was the only governor to give comments during the public session of the meeting. 

USPS also announced its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2024 during the board meeting. The net loss for the quarter was $1.5 billion; during the same quarter in fiscal 2023, the loss was $2.5 billion. 

The agency noted that $1.4 billion of the loss was not controllable by the Postal Service, being “attributed to the amortization of unfunded retiree pension liabilities, offset by a workers’ compensation non-cash benefit of $224 million driven by actuarial revaluation and discount rate changes.” 

Total operating revenue rose by 2.1 percent year-over-year, while total operating expenses declined 3.1 percent in that same time frame.