Delivering for America

Our Vision and Ten-Year Plan to Achieve Financial Sustainability and Service Excellence

Introduction

Our Delivering for America plan, published on March 23, 2021, is guiding the transformation of the United States Postal Service from an organization in financial and operational crisis to one that is self-sustaining and high performing.

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Second-year progress report

The Postal Service continues to aggressively advance core strategies and initiatives in our 10-year Delivering for America plan. Review our latest progress report to learn about our successes and what steps we've taken toward achieving our goals. We're committed to ensuring a financially self-sustaining and high performing Postal Service that continues to provide excellent service to the nation.

Year two report - 2023

Read the Delivering for America plan

Service Performance Dashboard

One of the goals of Delivering for America is to ultimately deliver 95 percent of all mail and shipping products on time. Find the latest performance data on our Service Performance dashboard.

Service Performance dashboard

Frequently asked questions

Delivering for America establishes clear strategies to quickly achieve financial sustainability and service excellence. The plan's strategic initiatives are designed to reverse a projected $160 billion in losses over 10 years by achieving break-even operating performance while improving the reliability and predictability of service.

Our plan delivers:

  • A modernized Postal Service capable of providing world-class service reliability at affordable prices.
  • Maintenance of universal six-day mail delivery and expanded seven-day package delivery reach.
  • Workforce stability and investment strategies that empower, equip and engage each employee and put them in the best possible position to succeed.
  • Innovation that grows revenue and meets changing marketplace needs.
  • Financial sustainability to fulfill our universal service mission.

In developing our plan, we studied market research; prior internal plans and proposals; reports from the Office of the Inspector General, Government Accountability Office and Postal Regulatory Commission; and many white papers and documents authored by postal stakeholders. We received feedback from key customers and industry associations, our unions and management associations, and members of Congress — valuable input from a diverse set of stakeholders. We will adhere to legal, statutory, contractual and regulatory requirements as we implement the initiatives within this plan.

Yes. The plan strengthens our ability to fulfill our mission to provide universal service, while maintaining six-day mail delivery and expanding seven-day package delivery reach for our customers and the American public.

After 16 years of pricing policies misaligned with organizational needs, the Postal Regulatory Commission provided a new pricing framework for market dominant products in 2020. Since March 2021, we have taken a more rational pricing approach including the judicious implementation of new and existing pricing authority. As we implement rate changes, USPS remains committed to making sure mailing and shipping rates remain among the most affordable in the world.

The Postal Service implemented service standard changes for First-Class Mail and Periodicals on Oct. 1, 2021. These changes were designed to enhance service reliability and also enable redesign of our processing and transportation networks to improve efficiency.

For many years, the Postal Service has recorded annual financial losses. At the time the plan was implemented, the Postal Service was projected to lose another $160 billion over the next 10 years.

However, the plan's strategic initiatives are reversing this course and enabling the organization to achieve break-even operating performance over the 10-year period. This will be achieved through modest regulatory and legislative changes, effective use of newly acquired and existing pricing authorities, operating more efficiently across our enterprise, and by driving revenue growth through innovative customer solutions.

With full implementation of our plan, we can achieve a long-term sustainable business model and provide our customers with the reliable service they expect and deserve and avoid any need for a costly bailout.

Our plan will deliver the reliable service the American people expect and deserve. We plan to invest in our Post Offices to provide a world-class customer experience with improved retail training, modernized uniforms, refreshed lobbies and expanded self-service and digital options. Additionally, residential customers can expect:

  • Reliable, value-driven service, six and seven days a week with 95 percent of all mail and packages delivered on-time, at all times of the year.
  • More digital and mobile tools and better tracking.
  • More convenient services and offerings at Post Offices and online.

While we remain committed to operating Post Offices in communities across the country, we will align our retail footprint, hours and services to meet current and evolving customer demands. In metropolitan areas that have multiple Postal Service retail facilities, we'll evaluate our network of stations and branches and propose to consolidate certain low-traffic facilities where alternate facilities are available to serve customers.

Overall, we project that only a small percentage of our Post Offices will have hours modified, and only a small percentage of city stations and branches will qualify for consolidation.

The Postal Service will request advisory opinions from the Postal Regulatory Commission concerning our retail network realignments. We'll share additional details as the Postal Service moves forward with these initiatives.

We recognize our business customers rely on us for predictable, reliable, value-driven service for both mail and packages. This is why the Postal Service is committed to dramatically improving service performance and customer experience at every touch point with our brand and delivering ever greater value to our customers through continual innovation and evolution.

Our plan will fully utilize our unmatched logistics network and infrastructure — which delivers goods and services to nearly 165 million addresses across the country — to connect businesses, large and small, to urban and rural communities across the nation.

Our business customers can expect:

  • Predictable, reliable, value-driven service, six and seven days a week with 95 percent of all mail and packages delivered on-time, at all times of the year.
  • A faster pace of innovation to drive growth and opportunity across the mailing and shipping markets.
  • A new suite of e-commerce solutions that broaden access to the postal network, with more options to provide same-day and next-day service to consumers and help businesses effectively compete in the growing e-commerce market.
  • Comprehensive small business services to bridge local retailers to local buyers, through offerings like pop-up kiosks that serve as a second storefront to elevate their brand.
  • Improved returns experience through convenient features like printing, packing, pickup and package-less returns.
  • New tools to leverage mail data and enable better integration with digital media channels.
  • New programs, resources and offerings to enable greater use of the mail by businesses of all sizes.
  • Create greater total value for mailers and shippers. These initiatives include mail promotions, mailer education and integration of data to better target and retarget consumers and trigger other aspects of marketing campaigns.

Our people are our greatest asset and our success depends on investing in their future.

We want to be an "employer of choice" that hires, develops and retains the most capable and diverse employees. Our plan focuses heavily on improving our collaboration and engagement within the workplace and strengthening the employee experience through the following measures:

  • Significant investment in training, tools and technology, including new mobile devices for carriers and new employee uniforms, that will enable employees to enjoy a long-term career with us and enhance their safety and wellbeing.
  • A more stable career path and an organizational structure that provides greater opportunity for growth.
  • An improved workplace that further advances our culture of diversity, equity and inclusion throughout our organization, including the creation of an Executive Diversity Council.

In all of these efforts, we will continue to work closely with our unions and management associations. We'll follow long-established, responsible processes for managing through transitions, providing options for our people to take on new or changing responsibilities, and to pursue career opportunities within the Postal Service.