Key takeaways on OIG recommendations for package delivery in rural areas

Lots of info here but it is interesting the way they are already planning a way to combat the time we will get for parcels to the door in RRECS

Note: Sixty-one percent of routes USPS defines as “Rural” are in areas the OIG has classified as Medium Density. In 2004, the city and rural carrier unions and the Postal Service agreed that Rural Routes in areas that have been fully developed need not be converted to City Routes just because of their urban or suburban characteristics.

The Low Density category captures parts of the country where the houses are far apart and most of the land is farmland or undeveloped. Unlike other areas, package growth in Low Density areas remained strong in FY 2019, given that the Postal Service faces less competition there for last-mile delivery. But operational challenges remain. Carriers may spend a great deal of time driving down country roads to deliver to the most remote locales. Depending on the residence or the size of the package, carriers may also be required to walk a package from their vehicle to the front door, a potentially long distance over uncertain terrain. In addition, a new system for evaluating Rural Carrier pay will make door deliveries more costly for the Postal Service. That new system is expected to be implemented within the next year or two, and USPS does not have a mechanism to recoup those higher costs—beyond general price increases

Rural Carriers Will Get Paid More for Packages

Currently, Rural Carriers are not paid more when deliveries take longer. Unlike City Carriers, who are paid hourly, Rural Carriers get a flat salary based on the “evaluated” time for their routes. The Rural Carriers union and the Postal Service have agreed to a set of time standards that apply to all of a Rural Carrier’s actions. For example, carriers are allowed 20 seconds to sort a package in the office and 10 seconds to deliver it.

However, the Postal Service will soon be transitioning to a different evaluation system to account for the number of door deliveries each Rural Carrier makes. The Rural Route Evaluated Compensation System (RRECS) will use parcel scan data to determine how many packages were delivered to the door on a given day and compensate the carrier accordingly.

Large and Heavy Packages are Especially Difficult to Deliver

Packages got an average of 18 percent heavier between FY 2013 and FY 2018.41 Mattresses, furniture, and dog food are among the bulky items now being delivered directly to your front door. The vast majority of parcels delivered by the Postal Service are small and lightweight, with percent coming in at two pounds or less. But the number weighing 30 pounds or more has jumped [REDACTED]

Figure 8: Large Parcels

Avoid the Most Difficult Door Deliveries in Remote Areas

Centralized deliveries in Low Density areas—like centralized deliveries anywhere—are generally faster and more efficient. These often take the form of roadside cluster boxes along rural roads . In small towns, centralized delivery is even easier, because customers living within a quarter mile (in some cases a half-mile) of the post office generally must pick up their mail from free P.O. boxes at the post office

While private carriers generate additional revenue from rural delivery surcharges, the Postal Service generates no more revenue from a delivery to the top of a mountain than it does to a suburban mailbox.

As discussed earlier, the current Rural Carrier wage system does not pay carriers more when deliveries take longer. The Postal Service has little incentive to centralize package deliveries, especially if it must invest money to do so.  But once the RRECS compensation system is instituted, Rural Carriers will be paid more for door delivery than for curbside or parcel locker delivery. Under the new pay system, optimizing rural package deliveries will have an immediate financial benefit for the Postal Service.

One way to centralize deliveries is to install more outdoor parcel lockers along Low Density routes. Parcel lockers could potentially be built at road junctions where rural cluster boxes already sit. As long as the package isn’t oversized, the carrier would be able to deposit it into the locker in the same location where she or he drops off the mail, thus avoiding a door delivery. Just as urban lockers could be placed in select apartment buildings for maximum impact, rural lockers could be placed at the most advantageous road junctions— avoiding long drives, difficult roads or terrain, and homes that are set far back from the street. As part of the RRECS rollout, the Postal Service is mapping the precise GPS coordinates of roadside mailboxes and customers’ front doors. The Postal Service could use that location information, along with parcel volume data, to identify the places where parcel lockers would most improve package delivery efficiency and begin some small pilot tests.