GAO: Since USPS launched its strategic plan in 2021, it has worked to cut costs and improve service. To align with its cost-cutting initiatives, USPS has extended expected mail delivery times by 1 to 2 days. And it has decreased the amount of mail it expects to handle within the slower delivery times.
But USPS has largely failed to meet even these reduced service standards. USPS’s continuing poor financial condition and service performance issues indicate that its actions haven’t been effective.
We recommended that USPS provide greater transparency to Congress, the public, and relevant stakeholders on how it will improve this situation.
What GAO Found
In 2021, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) published a 10-year strategic plan, which it has periodically updated, that aims to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence. Since that time, USPS has lengthened the expected delivery times of some First-Class Mail to align with strategic plan initiatives intended to cut costs.
- Effective October 2021, USPS added 1 to 2 days to its expected delivery times for certain products to accommodate its transportation change from air to ground.
- In April 2025, USPS further changed expected delivery times by eliminating end-of-day or afternoon collection at the over 24,000 post offices that are more than 50 miles from a Regional Processing and Delivery Center.
Additionally, USPS lowered its service performance targets—the percentage of mail it expects to meet service standards—in fiscal year 2021 and has not met most targets since then. While intended to achieve cost savings, USPS’s strategic plan initiatives have slowed service for some mail and had a disproportionate impact on rural customers, according to oversight entities and industry stakeholders.
USPS has tried to address service performance in several ways, including using diagnostic tools and regular operational meetings. However, ongoing service performance issues indicate that USPS’s actions have not been sufficient. Moreover, broader challenges—such as USPS’s poor financial condition—may contribute to the difficulty in doing so. Given persistent concerns about service performance, it is important that USPS clearly communicate about its ongoing and planned actions to address this issue, even as it seeks to cut costs, as well as about the challenges it faces. The upcoming update to USPS’s strategic plan, which is planned for 2027, presents an opportunity for USPS to communicate this information to Congress, the public, and relevant stakeholders.