United States Postal Service

Internal streamlining and delivery slowdown

In response, the USPS has increased productivity each year from 2000 to 2007, through increased automation, route re-optimization, and facility consolidation. Despite these efforts, the organization saw an $8.5 billion budget shortfall in 2010, and was losing money at a rate of about $3 billion per quarter in 2011.

Elimination of Saturday delivery averted

On January 28, 2009, Postmaster General John E. Potter testified before the Senate that, if the Postal Service could not readjust its payment toward the contractually funding earned employee retiree health benefits, as mandated by the Postal Accountability & Enhancement Act of 2006, the USPS would be forced to consider cutting delivery to five days per week during June, July, and August. H.R. 22, addressing this issue, passed the House of Representatives and Senate and was signed into law on September 30, 2009. However, Postmaster General Potter continued to advance plans to eliminate Saturday mail delivery.

In February 2013, the USPS announced that in order to save about $2 billion per year, Saturday delivery service would be discontinued except for packages, mail-order medicines, Priority Mail, Express Mail, and mail delivered to Post Office boxes, beginning August 10, 2013. However, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013, passed in March, reversed the cuts to Saturday delivery.

Post office closures

On December 5, 2011, the USPS announced it would close more than half of its mail processing centers, eliminate 28,000 jobs and reduce overnight delivery of First-Class Mail. At peak mail volume in 2006, the USPS operated 673 facilities. New delivery standards were issued in January 2015 in which the majority of single-piece (not presorted) first-class mail started being delivered in two days instead of one. Large commercial mailers can still have first-class mail delivered overnight if delivered directly to a processing center in the early morning. In 2014, this represented only 11% of first-class mail. In May 2012, the service announced it had modified its plan. Instead, rural post offices would remain open with reduced retail hours (some as little as two hours per day) unless there was a community preference for a different option.

Delivering for America reform plan

In March 2021, the Postal Service launched a 10-year reform plan called Delivering for America, intended to improve the agency's financial stability, service reliability, and operational efficiency. The plan includes $40 billion in investments meant to improve USPS technology and facilities. In April 2022, the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 was signed into law. It lifted financial burdens placed on the USPS by the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act.

Retirement funding and payment defaults

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) obligated the USPS to fund the present value of earned retirement obligations (essentially past promises which have not yet come due) within a ten-year time span.

In 2012, in order to be able to meet obligations for payroll and continuing its operations, the Postal Service defaulted on payments due for retirements benefits in August and again in September that year. In September 2014, it defaulted on the payments for the fourth time, and continued to default into 2017. The Postal Service sought financial reforms from Congress for relief from the funding obligation and debt from the defaults. Legislation was introduced in Congress in 2016 as well as in 2019, aiming to remove the benefits funding obligations, however no new legislation was passed until the 2022 Postal Service Reform Act (PSRA). The PSRA was signed into law in April 2022. It forgave $57 billion in Postal Service debt and released it from the obligation to set aside funds for future retirees' healthcare, as well as adding requirements for delivery timing and reporting on performance metrics, and allowing the Postal Service to offer some non-mail services.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the main bureaucratic organization responsible for the human resources aspect of many federal agencies and their employees. The PAEA created the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund (PSRHB) after Congress removed the Postal Service contribution to the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). Most other employees that contribute to the CSRS have 7% deducted from their wages. Currently, all new employees contribute into Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) once they become a full-time regular employees.

On September 30, 2014, the USPS failed to make a $5.7 billion payment on this debt, the fourth such default. In 2017, the USPS defaulted on some of the last lump-sum payments required by the 2006 law, though other payments were also still required.

Proposals to cancel the funding obligation and plan a new schedule for the debt were introduced in Congress as early as 2016. A 2019 bill entitled the "USPS Fairness Act", which would have eliminated the pension funding obligation, passed the House but did not proceed further. As of March 8, 2022, the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, which includes a section entitled "USPS Fairness Act" cancelling the obligation, has passed both the House and the Senate; President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on April 6, 2022.

COVID-19 test kits to Americans

Postmaster General DeJoy helped the USPS deliver approximately 380 million home test kits from January 2022 through May 2022. As of March 2024, when the program concluded, the USPS had delivered over 1.8 billion free COVID-19 test kits. In September 2024, the distribution of free at-home COVID-19 tests was re-started.

2026 election procedures

Trump signed an executive order in March that gave the USPS an unprecedented role in screening states’ mail ballot programs. Election officials have already expressed deep concerns about having to use a system that has not gone through extensive testing and training procedures

A whistleblower reported that the new requirements were unclear, but USPS leadership assured that what needed to be done was clear. The plan is to require election officials to upload voter registration to the USPS with the barcode associated with each mail in ballot. The USPS has stated it will not deliver the entire batch of ballots in which are there are any unregistered ballots.

The number of gallons of fuel used in 2009 was 444 million, at a cost of US$1.1 billion. For every penny increase in the national average price of gasoline, the USPS spends an extra US$8 million per year to fuel its fleet.

The fleet is notable in that many of its vehicles are right-hand drive, an arrangement intended to give drivers the easiest access to roadside mailboxes. Some rural letter carriers use personal vehicles. All contractors use personal vehicles. Standard postal-owned vehicles do not have license plates. These vehicles are identified by a seven-digit number displayed on the front and rear.

Electrifying the USPS fleet

Starting in 2026, all delivery truck purchases are scheduled to be electric vehicles, partly in response to criticism from the Environmental Protection Agency and an environmental lawsuit, and also due to availability of new funding provided by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The Act included $3 billion for electric USPS vehicles, supporting the initiative by Postmaster General DeJoy and the Biden Administration to add 66,000 electric vehicles to the fleet by 2028. The electric fleet will be composed of 9,250 EVs manufactured by Ford; 11,750 commercial off-the-shelf EVs; and 45,000 Oshkosh Next Generation Delivery Vehicles. In February 2023, the Postal Service announced its purchase of the Ford EVs as well as 14,000 electric vehicle charging stations. The fleet electrification plan is part of the Postal Service's initiative to reduce carbon emissions from fuel and electricity 40 percent and emissions from contracted services 20 percent by 2030. The bulk of the savings comes from less expensive 'fuel' and less required maintenance. Other benefits include less pollution where children live and play.

In August 2024, the USPS deployed the first new vehicles from its fleet modernization project at its Topeka Sorting and Delivery Center in Kansas, including: an electric vehicle with higher clearance for routes delivering a high number of packages, and an electric delivery vehicle produced in partnership with Canoo that is a "pod-like" smaller van.

Universal service obligation and monopoly status

Legal basis and rationale

Article I, section 8, Clause 7 of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to establish post offices and post roads, which has been interpreted as a de facto Congressional monopoly over the delivery of first-class residential mail—which has been defined as non-urgent residential letters (not packages). Accordingly, no other system for delivering first-class residential mail—public or private—has been tolerated, absent Congress's consent. The mission of the Postal Service is to provide the American public with trusted universal postal service. While not explicitly defined, the Postal Service's universal service obligation (USO) is broadly outlined in statute and includes multiple dimensions: geographic scope, range of products, access to services and facilities, delivery frequency, affordable and uniform pricing, service quality, and security of the mail. While other carriers may claim to voluntarily provide delivery on a broad basis, the Postal Service is the only carrier with a legal obligation to provide all the various aspects of universal service.

Proponents of universal service principles claim that since any obligation must be matched by the financial capability to meet that obligation, the postal monopoly was put in place as a funding mechanism for the USO, and it has been in place for over a hundred years. It consists of two parts: the Private Express Statutes (PES) and the mailbox access rule. The PES refer to the Postal Service's monopoly on the delivery of letters, and the mailbox rule refers to the Postal Service's exclusive access to customer mailboxes.

Proponents of universal service principles further claim that eliminating or reducing the PES or mailbox rule would affect the ability of the Postal Service to provide affordable universal service. If, for example, the PES and the mailbox rule were to be eliminated, and the USO maintained, then either billions of dollars in tax revenues or some other source of funding would have to be found.

Some proponents of universal service principles suggest that private communications that are protected by the veil of government promote the exchange of free ideas and communications. This separates private communications from the ability of a private for-profit or non-profit organization to corrupt. Security for the individual is in this way protected by the United States Post Office, maintaining confidentiality and anonymity, as well as government employees being much less likely to be instructed by superiors to engage in nefarious spying. It is seen by some as a dangerous step to extract the universal service principle from the post office, as the untainted nature of private communications is preserved as assurance of the protection of individual freedom of privacy.

However, as the recent notice of a termination of mail service to residents of the Frank Church–River of No Return Wilderness indicates, mail service has been contracted to private firms such as Arnold Aviation for many decades. KTVB-TV reported:

2008 report on universal postal service and the postal monopoly

The Postal Act of 2006 required the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to submit a report to the president and Congress on universal postal service and the postal monopoly in December 2008. The report must include any recommended changes. The Postal Service report supports the requirement that the PRC is to consult with and solicit written comments from the Postal Service. In addition, the Government Accountability Office was required to evaluate broader business model issues by 2011.

On October 15, 2008, the Postal Service submitted a report to the PRC on its position related to the Universal Service Obligation (USO). It said no changes to the USO and restriction on mailbox access were necessary at that time, but increased regulatory flexibility was required to ensure affordable universal service in the future.

In February 2013, the Postal Service announced that starting August 2013, Saturday delivery would be discontinued. Congress traditionally includes a provision in an annual continuing resolution that requires six-day delivery; it did so again in March 2013, and the Postal Service was forced to continue Saturday delivery.

Monopoly and competition

Due to the postal monopoly, neither FedEx nor United Parcel Service (UPS) are allowed to deliver non-urgent letters, and may not directly ship to U.S. Mail boxes at residential and commercial destinations. However, both companies have transit agreements with the USPS in which an item can be dropped off with either FedEx or UPS who will then provide shipment up to the destination post office serving the intended recipient where it will be transferred for delivery to the U.S. Mail destination, including Post Office Box destinations. These services also deliver packages which are larger and heavier than USPS will accept.

Although USPS and UPS are direct competitors, USPS contracts with UPS for air transport of 2–3 Day Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express (typically delivered overnight).

Postal Inspection Service

The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) is one of the oldest law enforcement agencies in the U.S. Founded by Benjamin Franklin on August 7, 1775, its mission is to protect the Postal Service, its employees, and its customers from crime and protect the nation's mail system from criminal misuse. Postal Inspectors enforce over 200 federal laws providing for the protection of mail in investigations of crimes that may adversely affect or fraudulently use the U.S. Mail, the postal system or postal employees.

The USPIS has the power to enforce the USPS monopoly by conducting search and seizure raids on entities they suspect of sending non-urgent mail through overnight delivery competitors. According to the American Enterprise Institute, a private conservative think tank, the USPIS raided Equifax offices in 1993 to ascertain if the mail they were sending through FedEx was truly "extremely urgent". It was found that the mail was not, and Equifax was fined $30,000.

The PIS oversees the activities of the Postal Police Force who patrol and secure major postal facilities in the United States.

How delivery services work

Elements of addressing and preparing domestic mail

All mailable articles (e.g., letters, flats, machinable parcels, irregular parcels, etc.) shipped within the United States must comply with an array of standards published in the USPS Domestic Mail Manual (DMM). Before addressing the mailpiece, one must first comply with the various mailability standards relating to attributes of the actual mailpiece such as: minimum/maximum dimensions and weight, acceptable mailing containers, proper mailpiece sealing/closure, utilization of various markings, and restrictions relating to various hazardous (e.g., explosives, flammables, etc.) and restricted (e.g., cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, etc.) materials, as well as others articulated in § 601 of the DMM.

Undeliverable mail that cannot be readily returned, including mail without a return address, is treated as dead mail at the Mail Recovery Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

The USPS maintains a list of proper abbreviations.

The format of a return address is similar. Though some style manuals recommend using a comma between the city and state name when typesetting addresses in other contexts, for optimal automatic character recognition, the Post Office does not recommend this when addressing mail. The official recommendation is to use all upper case block letters with proper formats and abbreviations, and leave out all punctuation except for the hyphen in the ZIP+4 code. If the address is unusually formatted or illegible enough, it will require hand-processing, delaying that particular item. The USPS publishes the entirety of their postal addressing standards.

Postal address verification tools and services are offered by the USPS and third-party companies to help ensure mail is deliverable by fixing formatting, appending information such as ZIP Code and validating the address is a valid delivery point. Customers can look up ZIP Codes and verify addresses using USPS Web Tools available on the official USPS website and Facebook page, as well as on third-party sites.

Delivery Point Validation

Delivery Point Validation (DPV) provides the highest level of address accuracy checking. In a DPV process, the address is checked against the AMS data file to ensure that it exists as an active delivery point. The USPS provides DPV on their website as part of the ZIP Code Lookup tool; there are also companies that offer services to perform DPV in bulk.

Paying postage

Postage can be paid via:

Stamps purchased online at usps.com, at a post office, from a stamp vending machine or "Automated Postal Center" which can also handle packages, or from a third party (such as a grocery store)

Pre-cancelled stamps for bulk mailings

Postal meter

Prepaid envelope

Shipping label purchased online and printed by the customer on standard paper (e.g., with Click-N-Ship, or via a third-party such as PayPal or Amazon shipping)

All unused U.S. postage stamps issued since 1861 are still valid as postage at their indicated value. Non-denominated stamps and those with values denominated by a letter are "valid at the original prices of issue". Additionally, Forever Stamps have been sold since 2007, which will always be valid for First-Class Mail up to 1 ounce (28 g), regardless of rate changes. In 2011, all first-class one ounce stamps, except for those sold in select coil sizes, "became forever stamps".

The cost of mailing a 1 oz (28 g) First-Class letter increased to 73 cents on July 14, 2024.

Postage meters

A postage meter is a mechanical device used to create and apply physical evidence of postage (or franking) to mailed matter. Postage meters are regulated by a country's postal authority; for example, in the United States, the United States Postal Service specifies the rules for the creation, support, and use of postage meters. A postage meter imprints an amount of postage, functioning as a postage stamp, a cancellation and a dated postmark all in one. The meter stamp serves as proof of payment and eliminates the need for adhesive stamps.

PC Postage

In addition to using standard stamps, postage can now be printed in the form of an electronic stamp, or e-stamp, from a personal computer using a system called Information Based Indicia. This online PC Postage method relies upon application software on the customer's computer contacting a postal security device at the office of the postal service.

International services

In May 2007, the USPS restructured international service names to correspond with domestic shipping options. Formerly, USPS International services were categorized as Airmail (Letter Post), Economy (Surface) Parcel Post, Airmail Parcel Post, Global Priority, Global Express, and Global Express Guaranteed Mail. The former Airmail (Letter Post) is now First-Class Mail International, and includes small packages weighing up to four pounds (1.8 kg). Economy Parcel Post was discontinued for international service, while Airmail Parcel Post was replaced by Priority Mail International. Priority Mail International Flat-Rate packaging in various sizes was introduced, with the same conditions of service previously used for Global Priority. Global Express is now Priority Mail Express International, while Global Express Guaranteed was unchanged. All international package services come with USPS tracking up until the point it leaves the US, with further tracking availability dependent on the destination country. First-Class Mail letters and flats are not trackable. On September 29, 2024, Global Express Guaranteed service was suspended to all destinations.

One of the major changes in the updated naming and services definitions is that USPS-supplied mailing boxes for Priority and Express mail are allowed for international use. These services are offered to ship letters and packages to almost every country and territory on the globe. The USPS contracts with various commercial and freight airlines to transport mail and packages to their destination. The Fly America act of 1974 mandates that the postal service must use a US Flag Carrier whenever one is available, regardless of cost. Exceptions apply for destinations not served by US carriers.

The USPS provides an M-bag service for international shipment of printed matter; previously surface M-bags existed, but with the 2007 elimination of surface mail, only airmail M-bags remain. The term "M-bag" is not expanded in USPS publications; M-bags are simply defined as "direct sacks of printed matter... sent to a single foreign addressee at a single address"; however, the term is sometimes referred to informally as "media bag", as the bag can also contain "discs, tapes, and cassettes", in addition to books, for which the usual umbrella term is "media"; some also refer to them as "mail bags".

The Department of Defense and the USPS jointly operate a postal system to deliver mail for the military; this is known as the Army Post Office (for Army and Air Force postal facilities) and the Fleet Post Office (for Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard postal facilities). Military mail is billed at domestic rates when being sent from the United States to a military outpost, and is free when sent by deployed military personnel. The overseas logistics are handled by the Military Postal Service Agency in the Department of Defense. Outside of forward areas and active operations, military mail service speeds vary greatly based on location. First-Class takes 7–18 days, Priority 7–18 days, Parcel Select and Media Mail 18–45 days, and Priority Mail Express military takes 3 days, though it is only available to select European, North American, and Pacific posts.

Three independent countries with a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia) have a special relationship with the United States Postal Service:

Each associated state maintains its own government-run mail service for delivery to and pickup from retail customers.

The associated states are integrated into the USPS addressing and ZIP Code system.

The USPS is responsible for transporting mail between the United States and the associated states, and between the individual states of the Federated States of Micronesia.

The associated states synchronize postal services and rates with the USPS.

The USPS treats mail to and from the associated states as domestic mail. Incoming mail does require customs declarations because, like some U.S. territories, the associated states are outside the main customs territory of the United States.

Discontinuation of international surface mail

In 2007, the US Postal Service discontinued its outbound international surface mail ("sea mail") service, mainly because of increased costs. Returned undeliverable surface parcels had become an expensive problem for the USPS, since it was often required to take such parcels back.

Domestic surface mail (now "USPS Ground Advantage") remains available. Surface mail transportation also remains available to certain overseas military and diplomatic posts.

Alternatives to international surface mail include:

International Surface Air Lift (ISAL). The service includes neither tracking nor insurance; but it may be possible to purchase shipping insurance from a third-party company. This service uses air transportation to leave the US but is then entered into the destination country's surface mail network.

USPS Commercial ePacket. The service is trackable.

Ordinary first-class international airmail.

Senders can access the International Surface Air Lift and ePacket services through postal wholesalers. Some examples of such wholesalers include:

Asendia USA (accessible through the Shippo website to users who have an Asendia account),

Globegistics (now owned by Asendia), and

APC Postal Logistics.

If a sender sends an ISAL mailing directly through the USPS (without a wholesaler as an intermediary), the minimum weight is 50 pounds per mailing.

Sorting and delivery process

Processing of standard sized envelopes and cards is highly automated, including reading of handwritten addresses. Mail from individual customers and public USPS mailboxes is collected by letter carriers into plastic tubs, which are taken to one of approximately 251 Processing and Distribution Centers (P&DCs) across the United States. Each P&DC sorts mail for a given region (typically with a radius of around 200 miles (320 km)) and connects with the national network for interregional mail.

Since the late 20th century, the USPS has been reducing point-to-point links in favor of a spoke-hub distribution paradigm, with sorting work tightly concentrated at the hubs. During the 2010s, the USPS consolidated mail sorting for large regions into the P&DCs on the basis that most mail is addressed to faraway destinations, but for cities at the edge of a P&DC's region, this means all locally addressed mail must travel long distances (that is, to and from the P&DC for sorting) to reach nearby addresses.

At the P&DC, mail is emptied into hampers which are automatically dumped into a Dual Pass Rough Cull System (DPRCS). As mail travels through the DPRCS, large items, such as packages and mail bundles, are removed from the stream. As the remaining mail enters the first machine for processing standard mail, the Advanced Facer-Canceler System (AFCS), pieces that passed through the DPRCS but do not conform to physical dimensions for processing in the AFCS (e.g., large envelopes or overstuffed standard envelopes) are automatically diverted from the stream. Mail removed from the DPRCS and AFCS is manually processed or sent to parcel sorting machines.

In contrast to the previous system, which canceled and postmarked the upper right corner of the envelope, thereby missing any stamps which were inappropriately placed, the AFCS locates indicia (stamp or metered postage mark) regardless of the orientation of the mailpiece as it enters the machine, and cancels it by applying a postmark. Detection of indicia enables the AFCS to determine the orientation of each mailpiece and sort it accordingly. The AFCS rotates and flips over mailpieces as needed, so all mail is sorted right-side up and faced in the same direction in each output bin. Mail is sorted by the AFCS into three categories: mail already affixed with a bar code and addressed (such as business reply envelopes and cards); mail with machine printed (typed) addresses; and mail with handwritten addresses. Mail with typed addresses goes to a Multiline Optical Character Reader (MLOCR) which reads the ZIP Code and address information and prints the appropriate bar code onto the envelope (formerly POSTNET, later Intelligent Mail). Mail with handwritten addresses and illegible typed addresses is diverted from the mailstream to the Remote Bar Coding System (RBCS). Images of such mailpieces are transmitted through RBCS to the Remote Encoding Center, where humans (data entry clerks) read each image and type in the most likely address. Each mailpiece held for RBCS processing is sprayed with an ID Tag, a fluorescent bar code. When address data comes back from the Remote Encoding Center, RBCS uses the ID Tag bar code to identify the corresponding mailpiece and prints the appropriate bar code, then returns the mailpiece to the mailstream.

Processed mail is imaged by the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking (MICT) system to allow easier tracking of hazardous substances. Images are taken at more than 200 mail processing centers, and are destroyed after being retained for 30 days.

If a customer has filed a change of address card and his or her mail is detected in the mailstream with the old address, the mailpiece is sent to a machine that automatically connects to a Computerized Forwarding System database to determine the new address. If this address is found, the machine will paste a label over the former address with the current address and the appropriate bar code. The mail is returned to the mailstream to be forwarded to the addressee's new location.

Mail with addresses that cannot be read and bar coded by any of the foregoing automated systems is separated for human intervention. Local postal workers can read the address and manually code and sort mail according to the ZIP Code on the article. If the address still cannot be read, mail is either returned to the sender (First-Class Mail with a valid return address) or is sent to the Mail Recovery Center in Atlanta, Georgia (formerly known as the dead letter office). At this office, the mail is opened to try to find an address to forward to. If an address is found, the contents are resealed and delivered. Otherwise, the items are held for 90 days in case of inquiry by the customer; if they are not claimed, they are either destroyed or auctioned off at the monthly Postal Service Unclaimed Parcel auction to raise money for the service.

Once the mail is bar coded, it is automatically sorted by a Delivery Bar Code Sorter (DBCS) that reads the bar code, identifies the destination of the mailpiece, and sends it to an appropriate tray that corresponds to the next segment of its journey.

There are necessarily two P&DCs for every domestic mailpiece which correspond to the regions in which the sender and recipient are located. The USPS calls these, respectively, the origin and destination P&DCs. Mail for which they are the same (because the senders are located in the same region as the recipients) is either trucked to the appropriate local post office, or kept in the building for carrier routes served directly from the P&DC itself. Out-of-region mail is trucked to the closest airport and then flown, usually as baggage on commercial airlines, to the airport nearest the destination station. At the destination P&DC, mail is again read by a DBCS which sorts items to local post offices; this includes grouping mailpieces by individual letter-carrier route.

At the carrier route level, 95% of letters arrive pre-sorted; the remaining mail must be sorted by hand. In 2009, the Post Office was working to increase the percentage of automatically sorted mail, including a pilot program to sort "flats". UPS is the primary air transport supplier to USPS for Priority and Express Mail. Priority Mail and Express Mail are transported from origin processing centers to the closest UPS-served airport, where they are handed off to UPS. UPS then flies them to the destination airport and hands them back to USPS for transport to the local post office and delivery.

After consolidating sorting work into the P&DCs, the USPS in August 2022 initiated a pilot program to consolidate delivery work into Sorting and Delivery Centers (S&DCs). As of 2022, the USPS was still running "delivery units" out of most of its post offices, meaning that most carrier routes were based at post offices and there were dozens of delivery units in each metropolitan area. The USPS planned to merge many delivery units in each metropolitan area into S&DCs, which implied that many letter carriers would have to endure longer commutes to S&DCs and drive longer delivery routes, while many post offices would be reduced to retail stores with no back-end mail processing capability on site. However, the USPS hoped to save money on the trucking fleet moving mail between its facilities. A 2023 audit by the USPS inspector general found that the facilities selected to serve as the initial S&DCs were operating smoothly and functioning as expected, but criticized the USPS for immediately consolidating workers into the S&DCs before they had been upgraded with adequate amenities like restrooms, break rooms, and locker rooms appropriately sized for such large numbers of employees.

Types of postal facilities

Although its retail postal facilities are called post offices in regular speech, the USPS recognizes several types of postal facilities, including the following:

A main post office (formerly known as a general post office) is the primary postal facility in a community.

A station or post office station is a postal facility that is not the main post office, but that is within the corporate limits of the community.

A branch or post office branch is a postal facility that is not the main post office and that is outside the corporate limits of the community.

A classified unit is a station or branch operated by USPS employees in a facility owned or leased by the USPS.

A contract postal unit (or CPU) is a station or branch operated by a contractor, typically in a store or other place of business.

A community post office (or CPO) is a contract postal unit providing services in a small community in which other types of post office facilities have been discontinued.

An approved shipper is an independent shipping business licensed to use certain USPS branding and signage, but which does not receive any financial compensation from USPS and may opt to charge higher rates for postage. Approved Shippers may also accept packages for other carriers such as UPS or FedEx.

A finance unit is a station or branch that provides window services and accepts mail, but does not provide delivery.

A village post office (VPO) is an entity such as a local business or government center that provides postal services through a contract with the USPS. First introduced in 2011 as an integral part of the USPS plan to close low volume post offices, village post offices will fill the role of the post office within a ZIP Code.

A processing and distribution center (P&DC, or processing and distribution facility, formerly known as a General Mail Facility) is a central mail facility that processes and dispatches incoming and outgoing mail to and from a designated service area (251 nationwide).

A sectional center facility (SCF) is a P&DC for a designated geographical area defined by one or more three-digit ZIP Code prefixes.

Financial services

Postal money orders provide a safe alternative to sending cash through the mail, and are available in any amount up to $1,000. Like a bank check, money orders are cashable only by the recipient. Unlike a personal bank check, they are prepaid and therefore cannot be returned because of insufficient funds. Money orders are a declining business for the USPS, as companies like PayPal, Venmo and others are offering electronic replacements. From 1911 to 1967, the Postal Service also operated the United States Postal Savings System, not unlike a savings and loan association with the amount of the deposit limited. A January 2014 report by the inspector general of the USPS suggested that the agency could earn $8.9 billion per year in revenue by providing financial services, especially in areas where there are no local banks but there is a local post office, and to customers who currently do not have bank accounts.