{"id":21796,"date":"2020-08-24T22:22:53","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T22:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=21796"},"modified":"2020-08-27T00:55:05","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T00:55:05","slug":"voters-arent-the-only-ones-who-dread-slow-mail-struggling-small-businesses-are-also-at-risk-from-postal-service-delays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/voters-arent-the-only-ones-who-dread-slow-mail-struggling-small-businesses-are-also-at-risk-from-postal-service-delays\/","title":{"rendered":"Voters aren\u2019t the only ones who dread slow mail \u2013 struggling small businesses are also at risk from Postal Service delays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ednilson Bernardes<\/a>, West Virginia University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Thousands of baby chicks<\/a> shipped to small poultry farmers through the U.S. Postal Service have arrived at their destinations dead in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

This was just one of the disturbing results of changes to how the Postal Service operates<\/a>, which have led to widespread delays in mail delivery<\/a> and concerns among Democrats about the USPS\u2019s ability to delivery mail-in ballots<\/a> during the 2020 elections. There have also been reports of delayed lifesaving medications<\/a>, rotting meat and spoiled fruits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I have studied<\/a> the supply chain industry for over 15 years. One thing people outside the field don\u2019t often recognize is the critical role the USPS plays in America\u2019s logistics infrastructure, especially for small businesses and in rural areas, as the only service<\/a> that delivers to nearly every U.S. address, six days a week. My research shows<\/a> how it can continue to do so.<\/p>\n

Dead critters<\/h2>\n

The dead chicks show just how important the Postal Service is to small businesses and their supply chains.<\/p>\n

Hatcheries typically ship the birds to farmers by USPS, the only service that allows people to send live animals<\/a>. However, newborns can survive only 72 hours without food or water, which translates into a tight delivery window. Upon arrival at the regional destination, the cargo goes to a local mail processing facility for sorting and then aboard a delivery truck for distribution.<\/p>\n

Recent changes to operations<\/a> \u2013 such as reduced overtime and prohibiting extra trips, moves intended<\/a> to address USPS\u2019s severe fiscal problems<\/a> \u2013 have slowed down the processing and distribution of packages, leading to buildup and causing delays. The consequences are particularly grievous for live animals, such as chicks, crickets and other small critters delivered by the USPS. It also causes losses to perishable goods such as meat<\/a> and flowers.<\/p>\n

But beyond organics, small businesses, pharmacies and online businesses also rely on dependable deliveries to keep their supply chains humming or to ensure consumers get orders on time.<\/p>\n

In the past, it\u2019s rarely been a problem. And USPS has a very good track record. Data from ShipMatrix<\/a>, a delivery analytics company, shows that the Postal Service delivered 95% of packages on time in May \u2013 before the delays began \u2013 which it has maintained for many years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An internal document released by House Democrats<\/a>, however, shows that on-time delivery dropped under 85% in July.<\/p>\n

Role in the supply chain<\/h2>\n

To appreciate the importance of a reliable post office, we can look at the percentage of retailers that rely on it for package delivery. Nearly 20% of the top 1,000 retailers<\/a> fulfill at least some of their e-commerce orders through the Postal Service.<\/p>\n

The USPS is even more important for small- and medium-sized businesses because of its wide reach and affordable flat rates. For instance, over 90% of U.S. Etsy sellers depend on<\/a> the USPS.<\/p>\n

Delays can mean a loss of business or costly refunds. Their customers can easily find alternative sellers online, and larger retailers like Walmart and Costco can offer faster delivery alternatives free \u2013 so the ability to get products fast and reliably is vital for small retailers with narrow margins.<\/p>\n

The Postal Service is particularly vital for businesses in rural or isolated regions trying to participate in the growing e-commerce economy. Unlike UPS or FedEx, the Postal Service has the infrastructure<\/a> to reach all corners of the country, six days a week \u2013 which is mandated by law. In fact, nearly half of all U.S. ZIP codes represent rural areas<\/a>, which USPS is able to serve cost-effectively to sellers and customers.<\/p>\n

UPS and FedEx themselves also rely on the USPS<\/a> to deliver packages the \u201clast mile\u201d \u2013 the term for the final stage in the delivery process \u2013 especially in rural areas, because it isn\u2019t profitable for them to operate in regions with low population densities. This means delays at the Postal Service can have ripple effects across the delivery system.<\/p>\n

Without a reliable Postal Service, small businesses may need to resort to pricier FedEx and UPS options. This means higher costs that could severely hamper their ability to operate and compete on top of the impact of the pandemic and economic lockdowns.<\/p>\n

How to stay reliable<\/h2>\n

While Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the USPS is reversing recent changes<\/a> that caused the delays until after the elections, something will have to be done to deal with the Postal Service\u2019s dire financial state. It\u2019s losing billions of dollars a year<\/a> due to a mixture of declining snail-mail volumes<\/a>, a legal requirement to fund pensions for 75 years<\/a> and other factors. Political gridlock<\/a> means a bailout is unlikely.<\/p>\n

In my view, DeJoy\u2019s changes were overly drastic in a too-short time, but I believe some cost-cutting over a longer period of time will be necessary to repair its balance sheet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean the USPS can\u2019t continue to play its critical role. My own research on supply chains<\/a> suggests that the USPS can both address its budget shortfalls and remain the only genuinely nationwide provider of low-cost, last-mile delivery for small businesses and isolated regions. The Postal Service is still operating with older, pre-digital technologies, and urgent upgrades<\/a> to its delivery and last-mile systems \u2013 such as utilizing artificial intelligence to improve delivery routing and facility management \u2013 are necessary to ensure it can compete effectively against as well as cooperate with rivals like UPS, FedEx and even Amazon in the growing e-commerce economy. This would help reverse its recent declines in revenue.<\/p>\n

However, if the focus is merely on cutting costs without modernization, small businesses and rural America will have to prepare for a future in which they might not be able to rely on USPS as they have for 245 years<\/a>.\"The<\/p>\n

Ednilson Bernardes<\/a>, Professor of Supply Chain Management, West Virginia University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ednilson Bernardes, West Virginia University Thousands of baby chicks shipped to small poultry farmers through the U.S. Postal Service have arrived at their destinations dead in recent weeks. This was just one of the disturbing results of changes to how the Postal Service operates, which have led to widespread delays in mail delivery and concerns […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":21797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,277],"tags":[7559,8540,5809,8368,8541,2078,4985,3069,1602,8542],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21796"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21796"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21821,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21796\/revisions\/21821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}