The time it takes to deliver a first-class letter in Chicago is about to grow longer as cutbacks at the U.S. Postal Service announced Monday threaten to add new meaning to the term “snail mail.”
While delayed delivery time could prove to be an annoyance for those sending birthday cards, postcards and letters, some businesses say extending the current overnight delivery standard to a new two- or three-day time frame will have a big effect on how work gets done.
Naperville-based accounting firm Advantage Bookkeeping Professionals Inc. makes two trips to the local post office, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon.
“We know the one-day coverage (schedule) around here,” said the firm’s vice president, Barb Kerry. “This is going to have a great impact.”
She said the firm, which serves more than 100 clients, “constantly” uses the Postal Service to mail bills.
“We will have to make sure that checks go out earlier, and if we need to get things to a client the very next day, our clients are going to have to pay for priority mail,” Kerry said.
Postal spokesman Mark Reynolds said overnight service will still be offered through priority and express mail. But it comes at a cost. Priority mail rates begin at about $5 — well over the 44-cent cost of a first-class stamp. The planned changes will not be put in place until the beginning of next year, Reynolds said.
“The cost of next-day mail sometimes gets prohibitive when you’re talking 45 cents per piece versus $3 to $10 per piece,” said Pastor Steve Rzany, 50, of the Forest Preserve Bible Church on the Northwest Side. “We might just end up driving (a letter) over.”
Standing inside Chicago’s main post office branch at Canal and Harrison streets, Rzany said he relies on the post office to deliver his church’s mailers. Rzany said he understands why the cutbacks are needed.
“We wish it didn’t have to be that way, but we understand,” he said.
But others question why a delivery service struggling to keep up with competitors, let alone stay relevant during a societal shift toward electronic correspondence, would cut back on service.
“It seems like the opposite of what they would want to have happen,” said Rebecca Monen, 25, who works for a nonprofit near the main post office branch. “I’d prefer to use the post office, but if they up the cost (of sending a letter in one day), I’d consider using a different service.”
Monen said she typically visits the post office a few times a week for work-related deliveries, and she likes the main branch’s closeness to her Halsted Street office.
Others blasted the Postal Service, saying the increased time necessary for mail service makes an already antiquated government agency even less relevant.
“Timeliness is a very important part of the postal system because business relies on it,” said Steve Gulley, 64, of Chicago, adding that part of the appeal of private couriers is that they help with packaging, unlike the Postal Service. “They don’t offer any service — they lack in services. I ran out of (packaging tape), and they told me I had to buy a roll.”
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In the end, however, the economics of the current delivery system led to the change. Mail volume has declined by more than 43 billion pieces over the last five years, according to the Postal Service. This has left it overstaffed, with an oversize delivery infrastructure and declining revenue.
“Customer habits have changed,” said Sean Hargadon, regional postal spokesman. “They’re not mailing first-class like they used to. The Internet has become a big communication tool, and online payments are way up. The stuff you put a stamp on isn’t being used as often as in the past.
“It’s changed, and we don’t see it going back, so we’re trying to adjust,” he said.
Tribune reporter Robert McCoppin contributed.