California one of 19 states challenging US Postal Service overseer over slower mail delivery
California, 18 other states and the District of Columbia filed a legal complaint to the commission that oversees the United States Postal Service over the process that allowed mail delivery slowdowns as part of the organization’s operational overhaul.
The U.S. Postal Service devised a 10-year plan to make its systems more financially stable by easing delivery times, bumping up prices and switching more of its shipments from air carriers to ground transportation, among other changes. It projected that these new strategies would prevent $160 billion in losses over the next decade as customers seek alternatives to its mailing services.
As part of this plan, delivery standards for cross-country mail increased to five days starting on Oct. 1. The service used to have all mail regardless of distance arrive within three days if sent within the continental U.S.
It also temporarily increased the price of domestic package shipments to align with this holiday season. That price hike ends on Dec. 26.
“Americans from all across the spectrum rely on the U.S. Postal Service for their medication, paychecks, and election mail,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement about the complaint. “If you’re going to make sweeping changes to national delivery standards, you have to do it right. This effort doesn’t make the cut.”
The 20 attorneys general alleged that the U.S. Postal Service only shared portions of their plan for review by its overseer, the Postal Regulatory Commission, before rolling out changes and did not solicit public opinion. They said that failing to submit its full plan violated federal law and that lacking advisory on sweeping delivery reform would hurt Americans.
“Now, more than ever, it is necessary for the commission to carefully examine the full breadth of the Postal Service’s sweeping changes, and to afford the public the opportunity to comment on them, as Congress intended,” they wrote in their complaint.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service wrote in an emailed statement to The Sacramento Bee that the complaint “has no legal or factual merit.” The spokesperson added that the organization will move to dismiss the challenge and that it followed all legal requirements in creating its 10-year plan.
The Postal Regulatory Commission registered concerns about the slower times in an opinion in July in which its commissioners wrote that the U.S. Postal Service had not justified how changing mail delivery times would save the organization money.
A spokesperson for the Postal Regulatory Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The changes rolled out in early October affect about 39% of first-class mail and 7% of periodicals, like subscription magazines. Consumers can still choose priority mail services for one-to-three day shipping across the continental U.S.
The U.S. Postal Service said that the changes match consumer needs, as demand increases for packages and decreases for flat mail.
“These unlawful, haphazard attacks on our mail are straight out of the Trump playbook,” Bonta said. “With little regard for the process or the consequences, these proposals threaten to put our democracy and our people at risk.
The attorneys general of Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, Rhode Island, Washington and the District of Columbia joined Bonta in filing the complaint.
