USPS Releases Delivering for America Update

The U.S. Postal Service recently issued a revised version of its 10-year Delivering for America plan. 

Delivering for America 2.0: Fulfilling the Promise, released Sept. 30, revisits the factors that inspired the plan and describes the progress made so far. The agency notes it is proud of its accomplishments under the plan, but there is still more to come. 

“While we have already made historic progress, it is not enough to make us financially sustainable,” the report states. “Given our still-precarious financial condition, we need to continue to move forward with the strategies in Delivering for America that are already in motion. The alternative is that we will run out of cash and either fail to fulfill our basic obligations to the American people, drastically cut our services, or require a taxpayer-funded bailout.” 

Among these strategies are optimizing routes, cutting underutilized trips, insourcing operations where financially advantageous and continued growth of the package business. Some of the concepts detailed in the document were addressed in a recent public hearing. The document also proposes “statutorily mandated appropriations” to support USPS operations. 

USPS also asserts that its current regulatory framework under the Postal Regulatory Commission, Office of Inspector General and Congress “complicates our ability to function as a financially solvent and nimble business enterprise to address the challenges we face,” advocating for a possible change there. 

“Success will be challenging and difficult, but it is within our grasp,” the report concludes about the plan.