PRC Wants Answers From USPS on Performance Concerns

A USPS watchdog has given the agency 20 days to explain why multiple policy changes don’t require an outside review.

In an April 26 order, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) insisted that several recent changes under the Delivering for America plan fall under its authority. It instructed USPS to take one of two actions: show cause within 20 days why its actions don’t merit an advisory opinion, or else request an advisory opinion within 40 days.

Federal law requires the Postal Service to seek an advisory opinion from the PRC when it makes meaningful changes to the nature of its services across a broad region. The PRC contends that multiple Delivering for America initiatives — including insourcing delivery, the network redesign, the Local Transportation Optimization (LTO) effort — merit an advisory opinion, although USPS never sought one in those cases.

The order focused on the negative impact some changes have had on postal performance, noting problems at facilities in Richmond, Atlanta and Houston. It also cited an Office of Inspector General opinion on the LTO initiative and said the Logistics Career Insourcing Initiative is likely to cause “staffing issues” due to a “truck driver shortage and an inability to hire sufficient postal vehicle operators.”

“It is clear that there has been a quantifiable decline in service across several regions during and after the implementation of new facility types,” the document states. “In fact, according to the service performance dashboard maintained by the Postal Service, nationwide service performance has declined substantially as the Postal Service has implemented the network changes described in this order.”

In an accompanying release, PRC Commission Chairman Michael Kubayanda noted that the commission doesn’t “have firm proof of what is causing the recent decline in service performance. I think the American public, postal stakeholders, and Congress want to understand the impact of the Postal Service’s network transformation plans. They want to know what is happening to mail service, how to stop this decline, how to keep it from spreading, and how to restore service to targeted levels of performance. Those are the questions the commission is looking to answer with this order.”

Advisory opinions from the PRC are not binding on USPS.