Following five years of operating in the red, USPS faces default on a $5.5 billion annual payment to the US Treasury for retiree health benefits. It is projected to have a record loss of $14.1 billion next year amid steady declines in first-class mail volume. It must make cuts of $20 billion by 2015 to be profitable.
Approximately half of first-class mail is currently delivered the following day. And about another quarter arrives in two days, about another quarter in three to four days. Following the change next spring, about 51 percent of all first-class mail is expected to arrive in two days, with most of the remainder delivered in three days.
These changes provide little relief and will eventually push more of America's business onto the Internet. This will affect letters, cards, bills, catalogs, magazines and newspaper deliveries via US mail.