The U.S. Postal Service’s plan to buy more delivery vehicles is running into roadblocks.

Thursday, three lawsuits were filed by a coalition of environmental organizations and the auto workers’ union, and states attorneys generals.

The AGs for 16 states and the District of Columbia claim the USPS violated the law when it ordered thousands of new mail trucks powered by gasoline instead of electricity. Another lawsuit filed in San Francisco was filed by Earthjustice, Center for Biological Diversity, CleanAirNow KC and Sierra Club, and a third was filed in New York by the Natural Resources Defense Council and United Auto Workers — strange bedfellows! The plaintiffs in those two cases are demanding a more thorough environmental review of the purchases. They contend that purchases of fossil fuel-powered delivery vehicles will cause environmental harm for decades to come.

“Louis DeJoy’s gas-guzzling fleet guarantees decades of pollution with every postcard and package,” said Scott Hochberg, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, referring to the postmaster general.

Postal Service spokesperson Kim Frum defended the agency’s actions.

“The Postal Service conducted a robust and thorough review and fully complied with all of our obligations under (the National Environmental Policy Act),” spokesperson Kim Frum said Thursday in an email.

The USPS also says its purchase was governed both by its financial problems and by the need to replace its delivery trucks as soon as possible. The contract would be the Postal Service’s first large-scale vehicle purchase in three decades. Its delivery trucks went into service between 1987 and 1994.

The United Auto Workers union says President Biden had promised to advance environmental policies while increasing union jobs. The new trucks are expected to be built in nonunion factories.

The Postal Service is an independent agency that is not bound by the administration’s climate rules. It also owns more than 231,000 vehicles, one of the largest civilian fleets in the world.

[press release] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]
U.S. Postal Service Announces New Prices for 2022
Two Cents Increase for Forever Stamp

WASHINGTON, DC — Today the United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of price changes to take effect July 10, 2022. The new prices, if favorably reviewed, include a two-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp from 58 cents to 60 cents.

The proposed prices, approved by the Governors of the U.S. Postal Service, would raise First-Class Mail prices approximately 6.5 percent which is lower than the Bureau of Labor Statistics annual inflation rate of 7.9 percent as of the end of February. The price changes reflect a judicious implementation of the Postal Service’s pricing authority provided by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

If favorably reviewed by the PRC, the single-piece letter additional ounce price would increase to 24 cents, the metered mail 1-ounce price would increase to 57 cents and the price of a postcard stamp would increase to 44 cents. A one-ounce letter mailed to other countries would increase to $1.40 cents. The Postal Service is also seeking price adjustments for Special Services products including Certified Mail, Post Office Box rental fees, Money Order fees and the cost to purchase insurance when mailing an item.

The proposed Mailing Services price changes include:

As inflation and increased operating expenses continue, these price adjustments will help with the implementation of the Delivering for America plan, including a $40 billion investment in core Postal Service infrastructure over the next ten years. With the new prices, the Postal Service will continue to provide the lowest letter-mail postage rates in the industrialized world and offer a great value in shipping.

The PRC will review the prices before they are scheduled to take effect. The complete Postal Service price filing with prices for all products can be found on the PRC site under the Daily Listings section at prc.gov/dockets/daily. The Mailing Services filing is Docket No. R2022-1. The price change tables are also available on the Postal Service’s Postal Explorer website at pe.usps.com/PriceChange/Index.

The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to fund its operations.

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved overwhelmingly a financial aid package for the U.S. Postal Service, worth about $50 billion. The measure passed 342 to 92. A similar bill in the Senate is expected to pass, too, with bipartisan support. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) hopes to have a vote by February 18th. [We will update this page when that occurs.]

The Senate version has 27 cosponsors, 14 of them Republicans.

One of the bills’ key provisions is to require future USPS retirees to enroll in a government health insurance plan (Medicare) and removes a mandate that the agency cover its future health care costs decades in advance, a requirement no business or other federal entity faces. The USPS has claimed that the tens of billions of dollars in these liabilities prevented it from modernizing and improving service.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy [right]had made the legislation the centerpiece of his 10-year postal restructuring plan. The White House and postal unions supported the bill as did the Greeting Card Association, Hallmark and Amazon.com.

On the same day the legislation passed, the USPS reported an adjusted loss of approximately $1.3 billion for the quarter, compared to an adjusted loss of $288 million for the same quarter last year.

House Liberals had pushed for a broader bill that would have included protecting mail-in voting, funding for electric vehicles and restrictions on political activities by the Postmaster General and members of the Board of Governors. DeJoy has raised funds for former President Trump and oher Republicans. The Governors are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), the bill’s sponsor and chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, told The Washington Post, said the more narrow bill was a compromise. “We could have passed a bill with just Democratic votes, but it would have been dead in the Senate.”

Republicans say DeJoy has a clear path to reforming postal operations.

“Congress just doesn’t want to put a Band-Aid on the post office,” Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, told The Post. “We want to try to have a permanent solution to the post office, and that all predicates on having a reform plan.

This article was drawn from a number of sources, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, Reuters and the USPS.

The USPS is trying to work out the various disputes regarding its new local postal delivery trucks. Earlier this week, the Biden administration took steps to hold up an $11.3 billion dollar contract for new vehicles, saying too many of them would be gasoline-powered.

Lawsuits were filed earlier by some of the companies that did not win the contract to supply the new vehicles.

In a press release distributed Sunday morning, the U.S. postal agency said it is willing to cooperate with other government agencies. It also points out that the initial order includes 5,000 electric vehicles.

“Our commitment to an electric fleet remains ambitious given the pressing vehicle and safety needs of our aging fleet as well as our dire financial condition,” said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy [right] in the press release.

Two days later, at the USPS Board of Governors meeting, DeJoy added, “We have an urgent need to replace our 30-year-old delivery vehicles that are powered by inefficient gasoline engines and that lack modern day safety features.”

The USPS says even the new gasoline-powered vehicles are an environmental improvement: “The NGDV with an internal combustion engine would be a more fuel-efficient vehicle as compared to the current Long Life Vehicle (LLV), despite being larger.”

The entire press release is here.

Consumer Reports has compiled the dates for each company’s various services, and you can find them here. While the article does ask you to log in, you can read all of it for free.

One important point: See what your retailer says about its expected delivery windows. It won’t matter what the shipping company’s deadline is if the retailer doesn’t get the product out the door for two weeks!

[press release]
Postal Service Closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day

WASHINGTON, DC — Post Office locations nationwide will be closed on Christmas Day, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021, and New Year’s Day, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022.

All Post Office locations will be open, and regular mail delivery will resume, on Monday, Dec. 27, 2021, and Monday, Jan. 3, 2022.

This post office will close early on Christmas Eve.

Some Post Office locations may have extended hours leading up to the holidays, while others may have limited hours on Christmas Eve, Friday, Dec. 24. There are currently no plans for limited hours on New Year’s Eve, Friday, Dec. 31. Customers are advised to always check with their local Post Office for hours of operation.

Blue collection boxes with final collection times before noon will not be affected by an early closing Dec. 24.

If a box has a final collection time after noon, its mail may be picked up earlier. For mail pickup on Dec. 24, customers are asked to either put their mail into blue collection boxes by noon regardless of the final collection times posted on the box, or take their items to one of our more than 34,000 Post Office locations.

The Alexandria, VA post office will close at 2 on Christmas Eve, rather than 6.

Customers who are unable to mail items before the scheduled collection box pickup times on Dec. 24 should visit the online Postal Locator tool at tools.usps.com to find Post Office locations that may be open late.

As a reminder, blue collection boxes are not serviced on Sundays.

The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

[press release]
U.S. Postal Service Announces New Competitive Prices and Two New Mail Products for 2022

• Postal Service continues to offer some of the lowest letter-mail postage rates in the industrialized world and a great value in shipping as we enhance our reliability and expand our product offerings in service to the American people.
• Pricing actions part of balanced approach under “Delivering for America,” the Postal Service’s 10-year plan for achieving financial sustainability and service excellence.
• Rate changes will contribute to $40 billion of investments in people, technology, and infrastructure over the next 10 years to modernize and improve the Postal Service’s operations and customer experience.
• Postal Service is also supporting mail by requesting PRC approval for two mail products focused on local communities.

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) today of price changes for Shipping Services to take effect Jan. 9, 2022.

The proposed prices, approved by the Postal Service Governors, would raise Shipping Services product prices approximately 3.1 percent for Priority Mail service, and 3.1 percent for Priority Mail Express service. Shipping Services price adjustments vary by product. Although Mailing Services price increases are based on the consumer price index, Shipping Services prices are primarily adjusted according to market conditions. The Governors believe these new rates will keep the Postal Service competitive while providing the agency with needed revenue.

If favorably reviewed by the PRC, the new prices will include an increase in the price of a Small Flat-Rate Box to $9.45. The Medium Flat-Rate Box would increase to $16.10, the Large Flat-Rate Box would decrease to $21.50 and the price of the APO/FPO Large Flat-Rate Box would decrease to $20.00. Regular Flat-Rate Envelopes, Legal Flat-Rate Envelopes, and Padded Flat-Rate Envelopes would increase to $8.95, $9.25, and $9.65 respectively.

The proposed domestic Priority Mail Flat Rate Retail price changes are:

The Postal Service has some of the lowest letter-mail postage rates in the industrialized world and continues to offer a great value in shipping. Unlike some other shippers, the Postal Service does not add surcharges for residential delivery or regular Saturday delivery.

The PRC will review the prices before they are scheduled to take effect. The complete Postal Service price filings with prices for all products can be found on the PRC site under the Daily Listings section at prc.gov/dockets/daily. For the Shipping Services filing, see Docket No. CP2022-22. The price change tables are also available on the Postal Service’s Postal Explorer website at pe.usps.com/PriceChange/Index.

The filing also included pricing to support USPS Connect, a suite of affordable package delivery solutions for businesses that the Postal Service expects to launch in 2022, if favorably reviewed.

In addition, the Postal Service is also supporting mail by requesting approval for two mail products focused on local communities. First, after a 2-year market test, the Postal Service is requesting the establishment of a permanent Plus One product which will provide additional marketing options for businesses to reach local customers utilizing mail. Building on the USPS Connect pilot, the Postal Service is requesting approval for a market test for a new USPS Connect Local Mail product which will provide the ability to send documents within local communities for same/day next delivery.

With full implementation, the Postal Service’s 10-year Delivering For America plan is designed to reverse a projected $160 billion in operating losses over the next 10 years. The Plan’s growth and efficiency initiatives, including the proposed pricing changes, together with necessary legislation, should allow the Postal Service to make investments totaling approximately $40 billion over the next 10 years to modernize and improve our infrastructure to become more efficient and service responsive.

The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

[press release]
‘USPS Operation Santa Is Now Accepting Letters for 2021 Program
It’s Time To Start Sending in Wish Requests for the Holidays

WASHINGTON, DC — Starting today, the Postal Service is accepting letters for the 109-year-old USPS Operation Santa program. Letters must be postmarked by Dec. 10, and will be uploaded to USPSOperationSanta.com through Dec. 15 for potential adoption.

Every day can be a challenge for some families simply trying to make ends meet.

Holiday expectations put extra pressure on those same families who want to make it a special time, but just can’t. That’s where the USPS Operation Santa program — and generous Postal Service customers — can help make the holidays a joyous and magical time. Since the program began, hundreds of thousands of less-fortunate children and their families have been helped by the kindness of others.

Program Details
USPS Operation Santa was established by the Postal Service to help those in need during the holidays. Whether you believe in Santa or not, the nondenominational program is intended to help as many deserving families as possible experience a happy holiday season. And that can only happen if there are letters to post on USPSOperationSanta.com.

Participation in USPS Operation Santa is simple. All you have to do is write a letter, put it in an envelope affixed with a First-Class Mail Forever stamp, and make sure you include your full return address — apartment number, directional information (i.e., E Main St, Apt 103) and ZIP Code — and send it to Santa’s official workshop address:

Santa Claus
123 Elf Road
North Pole, 88888

Letters without full return addresses or names will not be posted for adoption.

What Should I Ask For?
It is entirely up to the letter writer as to what appears on their wish list. But the more specific writers are with sizes, colors, styles, favorite authors, book titles, toys, etc., the better chance their wishes will be granted if their letter is adopted.

When someone writes a letter, it is opened by Santa’s elves, and for safety reasons, all personally identifiable information of the letter writer is removed (i.e., last name, address, ZIP Code) and uploaded to USPSOperationSanta.com for adoption. Letters must be postmarked by Dec. 10 and letters will be uploaded to the website for adoption through Dec. 15.

There is no guarantee that letters submitted to the program will be adopted.

How to Write a Letter
Sending a letter to Santa is easy and the Postal Service has guides and tips to help kids and their parents write and send their best letters ever. All the information you could possibly need to write a letter, address an envelope, put on a stamp and send it on its way can be found on USPSOperationSanta.com and in our Holiday Newsroom [which includes a countdown clock to Christmas].

You can also use these letter writing tips throughout the yearhttps://about.usps.com/holidaynews/ if you want to send thank-you cards, birthday cards or letters to friends and family just to say “Hi.”

Adopting a Letter
Adopter registration, ID verification and letter adoption will open in the next few weeks. Until then, there are a few things to know for those who plan to adopt a letter.

Potential adopters, once approved, can visit USPSOperationSanta.com, read through the posted letters, pick one or more that they’d like to fulfill, and follow the directions on how to grant that special wish for a child. For security reasons, all potential adopters must be vetted through a short registration and ID verification process before they can adopt any letter. If you’ve adopted letters in the past, you must still be verified each year.

Businesses also get into the spirit of the season by creating teams to adopt letters — all the better to help grant those special wishes to deserving families and kids.

USPS Operation Santa History
USPS Operation Santa started more than 109 years ago when the Postal Service began receiving letters to Santa from kids across the country. It wasn’t until 1912 that Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local Postmasters to allow postal employees and customers to respond to the letters. That simple act of kindness has led to a very successful holiday program benefiting deserving kids and families throughout the United States.

The complete Operation Santa history can be found online at the Postal Service Holiday Newsroom, along with additional news and information, including all mailing and shipping deadlines.

The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

The USPS plans its next rate hike for July 2022, and then twice a year, beginning in January 2023, reports Bill McAllister, the Washington correspondent for Linn’s Stamp News in its October 4th issue, which went online Saturday. The USPS said it did not plan a rate increase in January 2022.

The proposed rate increases would be on what the USPS calls its “market dominant” products, or services, such as first-class mail, advertising mail, periodicals, packages, and anything else in which the agency has a monopoly.

It competes with other services on products like Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express (which most customers still call “Express Mail.”

The USPS says it will be “judicious” in how it uses whatever authority to raise rates the Postal Regulatory Commissions gives it, but market conditions are likely to require the maximum increases allowed.

McAllister reports commercial mailers’ groups are protesting the plan, and saying they doubt the USPS will not raise rates as much as it can, because it does have that monopoly.

You can read more of McAllister’s story, without a subscription, here.

[press release]
A Half-Century of Operating Independently While Continuing to Bind the Nation Together

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service marks its 50th anniversary as an independent agency today.

On July 1, 1971, the U.S. Post Office Department became the U.S. Postal Service, a transformation made possible by the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970. This law transformed the Post Office Department from a cabinet level agency to an independent establishment of the executive branch called the United States Postal Service (USPS).

“In the more than two centuries since Benjamin Franklin was appointed our first Postmaster General in 1775, the Postal Service has grown and changed with America, boldly embracing new technologies to better serve a growing population,” said Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer Louis DeJoy. “We stand ready, willing and able to deliver for America into the next half-century and beyond.”

The first day of USPS operations in 1971 was commemorated at Post Offices nationwide with a new postage stamp and a free souvenir envelope. Official ceremonies, open houses, facility tours, refreshments, entertainment and other festivities also marked the day.

The organization’s achievements during the past half-century include the introduction of ZIP+4 Codes (1983), its first website (1994), Forever stamps (2007) and new products and services like Every Door Direct Mail (2011) and Informed Delivery (2017).

This spirit of innovation continues with Delivering for America, the organization’s new 10-year plan, which focuses on restoring service excellence and financial stability to the Postal Service through new efficiencies, products and services, and investments in people, technology and infrastructure.

To mark its 50th anniversary, the Postal Service has published an oral history of its first 50 years with 25 employees who were part of the organization’s transition from the Post Office Department, as well as a retrospective of National Postal Service Day in 1971. Explore additional information about the Postal Service’s history at about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/welcome.htm

The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.