Our Customers Prefer Door Delivery (H.R. 367)
Millions of Americans rely on U.S. Letter Carriers because we have the most
efficient last-mile delivery system in the world. The term “last-mile delivery”
describes the movement of goods from a local sorting center to its destination;
often these sorting centers are USPS facilities. The USPS is the only carrier that
touches every single residential and business address in the United States, six
and sometimes seven days a week.
Companies like UPS and FedEx sometimes carry out their own last-mile
delivery, but in most cases, they depend on the USPS to complete their last-mile
delivery. Our customers depend on letter carriers to deliver all mail to their door.
The ability to receive letters, bills, paychecks, medications, ballots and packages
at the door is a service that is highly preferred by the public and vital to the economic success of the USPS and the broader 1.58 trillion-dollar mailing industry
that employs more than 7.3 million Americans.
Door delivery supports America’s businesses and is a sustainable source of
revenue for the USPS. More than half of all mail volume is advertising mail,
which generated $16 billion in revenue for the USPS in Fiscal Year 2022. This
revenue is derived in large part because letter carriers deliver straight to the door.
The Postal Service’s unmatchable network of tens of millions of door-delivery
addresses attracts businesses that wish to market through the mail, and in turn,
generates revenue for the USPS.
The alternative to receiving deliveries regularly and reliably at the door is
for them to be delivered to centrally located cluster boxes. Door delivery is more
secure than cluster boxes. The USPS receives thousands of reports about theft,
arson, and vandalism of cluster boxes every year. Increased delivery to less-secure
cluster boxes may mean more vandalism and theft. Our customers clearly prefer
door delivery. According to surveys by the USPS Office of Inspector General,
over two thirds of respondents said that they would be willing to pay more money
to maintain delivery to their doors.
As letter carriers, we are the eyes and ears of our communities. We are delivering mail to our communities every day, and nobody knows our neighborhoods
better. At times, we are often the only source of daily contact for homebound
Americans and this human connection is possible because of door delivery.
Door delivery should be expanded, not restricted or eliminated. Cutting it would
undermine the Postal Service’s last-mile delivery advantage, and likely reduce
revenues by more than any cost savings.
SUPPORT DOOR DELIVERY (H.R. 367)