UPDATE: New USPS Mail Rules Take Effect in Illinois This Week; Here’s What to Expect

Changes to the United States Postal Service mail delivery process in Illinois start on Tuesday (4/2), but they might not be as bad as bad as they sound.

Illinois' "Snail Mail"

People all across the country tend to refer to the United States Postal Service  as "snail mail", but is that negative term actually accurate?

I ship a lot of packages via USPS, and most of the time my deliveries arrive to their destination ahead of schedule, but that may not be the case soon.

All of these upcoming USPS changes are meant to help the agency cut spending and run more efficiently, but with 10,000 jobs cut, what will this plan mean for Illinois mail users?

Basically, slower delivery times on certain packages and mail pieces. Wonderful.

Changes to Illinois Mail Delivery

I think we can all agree slower mail service is not ideal, BUT the changes may not be as bad as they sound...for most Illinois residents.

A Newsweek article says;

USPS will deliver 75 percent of first-class mail at the same standard. Fourteen percent will be upgraded to a faster standard, while 11 percent will have a slower standard. All first-class mail will still be delivered within the current one to five business day range.

I think this means, (if I'm reading between the lines correctly), that "junk" mail will be delivered at a slower rate and important mail will be delivered faster?

Are you ready for the downside now? If you live in a rural area, you will NOT like what I'm about to share.

An article on mystateline.com quotes the Postal Regulatory Commission as saying;

 the service is downplaying the effects these cuts could have, adding that they jeopardize the reliability of the USPS, especially in rural communities.

They say that 49.5% of zip code pairs will experience downgraded services for single-piece first-class mail, because the postal service “currently lacks a system” to accurately measure service performance at the five-digit level, as current standards are based on three-digit zip code pairs.

Hopefully they get this major problem fixed in a hurry, because rural residents already deal with their fair share of mail delivery woes.