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09/03/2025

What Is Really Happening to Mail?

Source: Mailing Systems Technology, August 20, 2025

Every day we hear stories about the USPS. Whether it is about the Postmaster General resigning, $9.5B annual losses, rate increases, DOGE, or even talks about privatization; it all sounds like the USPS is the worst-run organization on the planet, but this is far from the truth. What is actually happening is the organization is reacting to our changing mail needs. There are more delivery points that they need to service with fewer mail pieces per stop. They are trying to cut costs, but they are swimming against a tide of the publics’ changing requirements and their limited ability to make change without congressional approval.

The objective of this article is to show you what is happening around mail, focusing on the class makeup, what is being sent, and what you can expect for the future.

To simplify the discussion around mail, we will talk about the four main classes.

First Class Mail: This is the most common service and what everyone focuses on when discussing mail volume declines. There are two main ways this is processed:

• Non-Presort– Items deposited into the standard postal stream directly by the client. Most of this volume is day-to-day mail sent from businesses but also includes personal items.
• Presort– Items processed in groups of 500 or more, following specific automation processes for postal discounts. This is either done by having software and staff in-house, or, more commonly, by hiring third-party outsource mail preparation services or presort/commingle companies that will pick-up your mail and combine with other clients to get the lowest postage rates.

When you look at mail volume declines, the biggest is with the non-presort segment, which is going down at eight to 12% per year vs. the presort segment, which is only at two to five percent. Also, when you look at the size of the category, 74% is run through presort, making the total reduction in First Class Mail lower at only three to four percent.

We do not see a major change in the current decline rates unless there are regulations that allow organizations to automatically sign clients up for electronic presentment without their approval.

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