The Missouri Farm Bureau is expressing concern about slowed rural mail delivery under a proposed United States Postal Service plan that would consolidate mail routes.
In the Regional Transportation Optimization plan, all ZIP codes more than 50 miles away from one of the 60 USPS regional hubs in the county, would have their morning drop-off and afternoon collection routes combined into one route. USPS said this would result in one additional day of transit for mail.
Missouri Farm Bureau President Garret Hawkins sent a letter to USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Wednesday, urging him to reconsider the proposal.
"We believe these taxpayer-funded services should serve rural and urban areas equally to the maximum extent possible," Hawkins said in the letter. "Further restricting access to services in rural areas does not accomplish this goal."
According to the USPS's advisory opinion request, submitted to the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission in October, the reason for the consolidation is funding concerns.
"We are in a perilous fiscal condition and wholly lack the financial flexibility under the current business model to absorb the cost of long delays before implementing a restructuring plan," the opinion request said. "These initiatives will allow the Postal Service to achieve estimated cost savings of between $3.6 billion and $3.7 billion on an annual basis once fully implemented."
USPS's solution to this issue, the proposed plan, is supposed to save money by enhancing the "efficiency of the transportation network by enabling a redesign of our transportation routes, reducing trips and layovers and improving utilization of our transportation resources."
But the Farm Bureau believes these cost-cutting measures will further negatively affect rural Americans, saying it is "already frustrated by slow delivery times, consolidation of rural facilities, and the overall perceived inefficiency of USPS as a whole."
"Rural Americans rely on prompt and reliable postal service for a whole host of reasons, including receiving letters from loved ones, critical medication, time-sensitive documents and bills, and even Social Security payments," Hawkins said in the letter. "Additionally, we echo concerns shared by various members of Missouri's congressional delegation in correspondence with USPS earlier this year."
Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley also expressed concern over the proposed plan during a nominations hearing for the USPS Board of Governors.
"The Farm Bureau has very significant concerns and frankly so do I," Hawley said during the hearing on Thursday. "According to the USPS's own analysis, nearly 70% of first-class mail volume in rural areas would experience significant downgrades under this plan."
The percentage Hawley referenced comes from the direct Congress testimony of Arslan Saleem, the USPS director of Corporate Performance Reporting and Analytics.
USPS addressed initial concerns over rural mail delivery times in an August Operational Improvements fact sheet, saying it "will maintain its commitment to universal service, ensuring reliable delivery to all communities regardless of distance."
Any implementation of the USPS proposed plan's operational changes will not happen until 2025.
