New Postal Service Standards Mean Delayed Mail For The Eight Villages

Township residents using the US Postal Service will have to allow for at least another day of delivery time for mail sent and received, thanks to new standards out in place on October 1 by the U.S Postal Service.

The new delivery times – called delivery standards by the U.S. Postal Service – will “increase delivery reliability, consistency, and efficiency for our customers and across our network,” according to a USPS press release.

Franklin Township residents live in ZIP Codes beginning with 088 and 085.

A map created by the Washington Post – derived from USPS data supplied to the Postal Regulatory Commission – shows that prior to the slowdown plan, half of the mail sent from ZIP codes beginning with 088 arrived in most northeast states within one day, and to the rest of the country in two days, on average.

Now, according to the Post’s map, 42 percent of mail sent from ZIP Codes starting in 088 will arrive as far north as New York and parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, as far west as parts of Eastern Pennsylvania and as far south as Delaware in one day.

The new plan will have 30 percent of mail sent from ZIP Codes beginning with 088 delivered to locations as far west as Illinois, the rest of the Northeast, Michigan and parts of Wisconsin and as far south as parts of Alabama and Mississippi in three days.

Mail sent from ZIP Codes beginning with 088 to the rest of the country will arrive in four to five days, according to the Post’s analysis.

Township residents who mail from ZIP Codes beginning with 085 face similar delays, according to the data.

Prior to the new plan, 54 percent of mail from ZIP Codes beginning with 085 arrived in the tri-state area, Massachusetts and Connecticut in two days, according to the data. Mail sent from those ZIP Codes arrived in the rest of the country in three days.

Now, 48 percent of mail sent from the 085 ZIP Codes will arrive as far west as Illinois, as far south as northern Florida, and as far north as New England in two days.

Another 26 percent of mail sent from the 085 ZIP Codes to the Midwest and southern states will arrive in three days, and the remaining 26 percent of that mail will arrive at their destinations between four and five days, according to the data.

The data also show that mail sent from other parts of the country to New Jersey will arrive one to two days later, on average, than it has in the past.

The USPS said in the release that First Class mail sent within local areas will continue to be delivered in two days.

“The service standard changes are part of our balanced and comprehensive Delivering for America Strategic Plan and will improve service reliability and predictability for customers and enhance the efficiency of the Postal Service network,” the release said. “The service standard changes that we have determined to implement are a necessary step towards achieving our goal of consistently meeting 95 percent service performance.”

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