U.S. Postal Service Reducing Package Presort Discounts
From the article: "...The presort discount system, created decades ago, turned over large sections of postal operations to private companies, for private profit. The Postal Service gives companies like Pitney Bowes and other large mailers huge postage discounts, or “corporate welfare,” to presort letters and packages before entering them “downstream” in the postal network. These discounts vary based on how much sorting work the presort companies undertake (how much postal worker work they replace). This “last mile” strategy guts postal processing facilities and bypasses postal truck transportation. Today, private companies sort roughly 80 to 90 percent of all letter mail volume before entering the postal network. Likewise, private parcel “consolidators” presort the majority of parcels delivered by the Postal Service, with many being entered directly at the delivery unit, bypassing nearly the entirety of the Postal Service’s transportation and processing networks. The Postal Service has fully endorsed, promoted and accelerated this presort and last-mile strategy for decades – until now...."
Article Reference: apwu.org
