The USPS is better equipped for the 2022 holidays after past peak challenges

A quick dive:

• The U.S. Postal Service is well-equipped to handle this year’s rush of peak-season packages, even with fewer seasonal employees and onboard facilities, agency stakeholders said during Hearing in the subcommittee of the House of Representatives Wednesday.
• The Postal Service installed new package sorting machines, leased additional trailers and announced a hiring announcement in September 28,000 seasonal employees in preparation for the peak. He also doesn’t expect volumes to increase from last year, according to Tammy Hull, the Postal Service’s inspector general.
• According to a report from the Office of the Inspector General, the agency is at risk of not leasing as many units during the peak season as planned published on November 14. As of Nov. 1, the USPS has leased only 53% of the temporary processing additions and 11% of the temporary shipping additions, but contingency plans are available.

Dive Insight:

After heavy inaugural peak of the season for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in 2020, the agency has made investments to limit its future vulnerability to typical holiday challenges such as understaffing and strained facility capacity.

USPS hires fewer seasonal employees than 40,000 he chased last year as it moves to stabilize its permanent year-round workforce. Gregory White, the USPS’s executive manager for strategic initiatives, told a Government Operations subcommittee hearing that it has moved 41,000 employees from part-time to full-time since January, limiting the need for extra help during the peak season. .

“The reality is we’re less reliant on peak season heroes this year than we’ve been in the past,” White said.

The agency’s efforts to increase its capacity include signing multi-year leases for outbuildings and peak-season processing facilities. They are strategically located throughout the U.S. to help existing postal facilities that may lack space, White said.

USPS management says it can be difficult to provide facility capacity during peak seasons alone, and the agency has been unable to find vacancies in some locations, according to a report from the Office of Inspector General. Contingency plans to mitigate peak season shortages include moving mail to other postal facilities.

The inspector general’s office did not issue any recommendations in its report because the USPS “has a reasonable plan for the peak,” Hull said. No carrier is completely risk-free during the holiday shipping rush — weather delays and local hiring issues can still occur and affect service levels — but the Postal Service is better equipped this year than in the past, other speakers at the hearing said. . .

“Given the sheer scale of postal operations, there will undoubtedly be unforeseen difficulties, but the systemic issues affecting the 2020 holiday season appear to be a thing of the past,” said Michael Plunkett, president and CEO of the Postal Trade Association.