In 2021, the USPS changed service standards for First-Class Mail changing them from 1 to 3 days to 1 to 5 days in the 48 contiguous states. The Postal Service is once again changing service standards, this time rolling them out in two phases – April and July of this year.
The refinement in standards impact market-dominant services including adjustments for First-Class Mail, Media Mail, and other services. Service won’t change for most volume, according to the USPS announcement last month, but some standards will be upgraded and others downgraded.
- Existing service standard day ranges maintained for First-Class Mail, meaning no First-Class Mail will have a standard of more than 5 days.
- Over 80 percent of market-dominant volume will remain unchanged.
- Implementation will be in two phases to facilitate effective operational execution: the first phase will begin on April 1 and the second on July 1.
As a result of these “refined” service standards, the Postal Service projected a savings of at least $36 billion over a course of 10 years from cost reductions in transportation, mail processing, and real estate.
However, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) had issued a warning in January about a USPS proposal to exclude Sundays and holidays as transit days for volume entered into the network on Saturdays or the day before a holiday, as we previously reported. The PRC concluded that the expected delivery for a portion of Single-Piece First-Class Mail would therefore extend to 6 or more days in those cases. It characterized it as a “degradation in service.”
The USPS responded to that particular criticism by writing in part: “Despite overblown claims by the Commission about the overall impact of this change, our proposal simply leads to a modest amount of additional mail that might fall into this category, balanced against the significant cost savings and efficiency gains that will result from this change. Continuing to adhere to these artificial and unnecessary business rules restricts our ability to evolve our operating practices to serve modern day customer needs.”
On March 20, 2025, the USPS issued another press release about tools to help customers understand the changes to service standards, writing the following:
In preparation for these upcoming changes, USPS has developed user-friendly tools to assist customers in understanding expected delivery times for their mail.
Available now:
- Detailed file specifications for downloadable files with the new standards are available on PostalPro (Service Standards | PostalPro).
- The service standards Application Programming Interface (API) has been updated to include a new presort indicator for First-Class Mail standards. API specs are available now on the USPS Developer Portal (https://developers.usps.com/)
Starting March 24:
- Customers can look up service standards on usps.com for mailings from one ZIP Code to another on a particular mailing date. The search results will display the available mail classes along with the expected delivery dates for each.
- A new interactive map will be available that will display service standards. Customers will be able to enter the ZIP Code they are mailing from along with the mail class to view the expected delivery time.
The USPS directed people to this page on the USPS.com website for more information about the service standard changes and said the information would be updated as needed to communicate any new information.