Five-Day Delivery:
What Impact Will it Have on Mailers?

On Thursday, March 24, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) released its opinion on the USPS's proposal to move to a five-day delivery schedule by eliminating Saturday delivery. The commission’s report disputed some of the estimated savings that the USPS outlined, and while we understand that there will always be some dispute over cost savings, we agree with the USPS that a blended approach of cost reductions and policy changes provides the best chance of decreasing the organization’s debt.

We stated and still believe that ultimately Congressional approved legislation will have the biggest impact on fixing the Postal Service’s financial situation. For example, we highly encourage the elimination of the USPS’s required $5.5B annual investment in the USPS retiree healthcare prefund. Furthermore, the issue now is not about five-day delivery or the actions that the Postmaster General has been forced to take lately – it is about survival. The focus needs to be on cost reductions. In the end, the Postal Service will have to take whatever steps are necessary to rectify its financial situation.

We recognize five-day delivery as a way to reduce costs and in a manner proportionate to decreasing mail volumes. We also recognize that should the USPS move forward with the implementation of a five-day delivery schedule, this will cause difficulties for mailers in the short run. However, astute mailers will be able to easily adopt practices that provide visibility, accountability, and predictability, alleviating any impact that the new delivery schedule might cause.

What are these practices? Destination entry, effective presort, and enhanced visibility with the Intelligent Mail® barcode (IMb) can be leveraged to effectively manage changes to the delivery schedule. These practices will allow for exceptional logistics planning. Many mailers are already using IMb, and taking advantage of its time-to-arrival estimation capabilities. These estimates enable mailers to amend mailing dates to avoid late delivery and should be a natural fit.

We are confident that the tools, technology, data, and unprecedented visibility into the mailstream now available will ultimately reduce the impact that five-day delivery will have on mailing operations. As a Full Service provider, we can continue to provide the best possible handling of the vast amounts of data that many of our customers currently encounter. We will be ready to assist our customers to ensure a smooth transition and uninterrupted delivery of mailing jobs.

In the end, we are not surprised that there are differences in opinion, but one thing is clear: a balanced approach in order to alleviate costs is essential.

Chris Lien

President