The Postal Regulatory Commission is currently reviewing the Postal Service’s request to make its pilot USPS Connect Local Mail (CLM) a permanent product. CLM offers same or next-day delivery for documents sent at a post office with a delivery unit (carrier operation) to the addresses served by that DU.

Today the PRC asked how the CLM product would be impacted by the Sort & Delivery Center plan, which will be implemented in 2023.

The S&DC plan will relocate delivery unit operations to large, centralized facilities that are in many cases 10 or 15 miles from the post office, making it more difficult for some mailers to use CLM. CLM also allows mailers to hand off mail directly to the carrier, which could be complicated by the S&DC plan.

The PRC has thus asked the USPS to “describe in detail how implementing this [S&DC] plan would affect the existing entry of USPS Connect Local Mail.”

Responses to the questions are due by Dec. 23.

The PRC’s questions appear to be the first time the Commission has asked the Postal Service about the S&DC plan. The OIG is also asking for input into the plan for an audit it’s conducting. Expect a lot more of this in 2023.