By Mike O’Brien – August 2, 2023
A U.S. Postal Service plan to insource all line hauling of mail and parcels between hubs and local delivery units, which had been handled by contractors, will be completely phased in by 2025, according to a source with knowledge of meetings with USPS officials.

As part of the 10-year Delivering for America network overhaul plan, begun in 2021, contractors are being notified that their services are no longer required and will be handled instead by USPS employees and assets. The services included transport of mail and parcels from area hubs to local post offices for morning delivery, then picking up outbound mail in the afternoon for injection into the system.

“The Postal Service continues to move forward with its Delivering for America plan, which includes optimizing the postal network,” said USPS spokesperson Susan Brennan. “One aspect of optimization includes finding the best way to transport products from site to site. Some contract carrier companies we have contracted with will be affected.”

The USPS said in April its projected loss over the duration of Delivering for America had been cut from $160 billion to $70 billion, and affirmed it would reach break-even by 2030, despite $3 billion in inflation-driven cost increases since 2021. This year, the agency plans to open four new regional processing and distribution centers, in addition to one that opened last year. Since the plan was initiated, daily capacity has increased to 60 million pieces through installation of new processing machines, the USPS said.

Read more: USPS Network Plan Includes Insourcing of Linehaul Work – Multichannel Merchant