“Local Transportation Optimization” Impacts Service
Under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, and in conformance with his 10-Year Plan, the Postal Service has obsessively pursued measures to fill trucks and reduce transportation, all in the name of “efficiency.”
Initially called “Optimized Collections,” but since renamed the “Local Transportation Optimization,” the initiative’s objective is the same: run only one trip from the processing facility to local post offices in the morning to drop off the day’s deliveries, and eliminate the afternoon trip that would have returned the day’s retail and collection mail to the plant for outbound processing.
USPS Ends Weekly Press Releases
For obvious reasons, the Postal Service has stopped sending out weekly press releases about “sustained” or “stable delivery performance.” The practice had begun in mid-2021 to publicize alleged service improvements that the agency regularly ascribed to the Postmaster General’s 10-Year Plan.
February CPI Defines Elements of Next Price Increase
Following release of the February CPI on March 12, the Postal Service’s annualized CPI-based pricing authority was 3.613%. However, because Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has been seeking semi-annual rate hikes, the effective CPI-based authority after six months was only 1.622%. The USPS had earlier projected a figure of about 2%.
PRC Opens Inquiry into USPS Zone 10 Price Structure
As stated in its March 22 order approving Zone 10 prices for some competitive products, the Postal Regulatory Commission concurrently opened a Public Inquiry docket (PI2024-2) “to explore the appropriate classification of Zone 10 packages pursuant to 39 USC 3642 and whether the implementation of Zone 10 prices raises a material issue of fact concerning whether a violation of 39 USC 403(c) has occurred if the Postal Service elects to implement the Zone 10 prices.”
USPS Files Annual Appropriation Request
On March 11, the Postal Service filed its Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Congressional Submission detailing the purposes and amounts for which it was seeking direct funding from the US Treasury. At the opening of the 31-page document, the USPS listed the areas for which is was (or could be) seeking appropriations from Congress.