Postmaster General DeJoy to decrease postal services in 10-year plan

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is set to announce his 10-year plan for the United States Postal Service on Tuesday, which will decrease services. DeJoy intends to shorten post office hours, lengthen delivery times, and increase postage prices. In other words, consumers will pay more for less.

These proposals are meant to help turn around the billions of dollars in financial losses seen by the post office in recent years. Those that spoke with the Washington Post about the plans did so on condition of  anonymity.

DeJoy told a House panel last month that financial losses expected by the USPS over the next 10 years would be around $160 billion, on top of the $188.4 billion in liabilities the service already has.

DeJoy's intended plan looks to extend first-class mail delivery by a day, moving it back from the current local standard of up to two days and nonlocal timetable of three to five days.

He also plans to change post office hours by closing post offices earlier and extending lunch break hours in which the office is closed. DeJoy also is looking at price increases for postage rates as soon as this summer.

"However, as I have previously stated, last year we charged $70 billion for services that cost us $80 billion to provide. We cannot continue down this path and think that we will remain a viable service to the American people. Our losses need to be addressed," DeJoy said in a January meeting with the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee.

While DeJoy's plan may help turn around the financial difficulties faced by the service for the first time in years, mailing industry experts warn that cuts to service could potentially drive the customer service base away it's trying to serve.