The mail is getting slower and more expensive. Here’s what it means for Kansas City
Donna Long and her husband, Edward, were left waiting close to two weeks for the U.S. Postal Service to deliver medications earlier this month. It was the first time in 20 years, the couple said, that they had to wait longer than three days for mail-order prescriptions to arrive.
It took 13 days, but their October medications finally arrived in Kansas City after being shipped from Phoenix.
“It’s kind of disturbing,” Donna Long, 77, said in a phone interview. “It’s upsetting because we’re old and we want to make sure we get our medicines.”
The recent delays the Longs experienced are not an isolated incident. Since Oct. 1, several cities across the country have seen a slowdown in mail service from the Postal Service — some by as much as a day, depending on where mail is sent from.
“What’s Your KCQ?” — a partnership between The Star and the Kansas City Public Library — is looking into the mail slowdown to help Kansas Citians know more about how the changes may affect their lives.
Why has the mail slowed down?
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy recently implemented a 10-year plan for the agency called “Delivering for America,” aimed at making the Postal Service more financially sustainable. The plan is designed to save the agency $160 billion over the next decade, according to DeJoy.
The service has suffered financial difficulties over the past few years, and the COVID-19 pandemic only added to those difficulties. There were delays last year throughout the holiday season.
Previously, letters and packages were shipped on planes through air mail. DeJoy’s plan instead calls for mail to be driven in trucks across the country.
Before the 10-year plan was implemented, mail sent from the Kansas City area would take about two days to arrive in areas close to Kansas City and three days for the rest of the country, according to The Washington Post.
Under the new plan, mail shipped from Kansas City to local areas will still take two days. But it will take three days to arrive in much of the central U.S., and it will take about four days to arrive in many western and eastern states.
Prices are also going up. A stamp will cost 58 cents, a 3 cent rise. Media mail, often used by local bookstores and libraries, will see a 40 cent increase. Money orders will cost 15 cents more.
The new delivery regimen will disproportionately affect states west of the Rocky Mountains, according to a Washington Post analysis. Overall, at least a third of letters and parcels sent via first-class mail that is addressed to 27 states will arrive more slowly, according to The Post.
Delays hurt local businesses
Thomas Ahart is a small business owner in Kansas City concerned about what the delays will do to his auto parts business.
“I think there’s a huge lack of awareness as far as the role that the post office plays in supporting, really, small and large businesses,” Ahart, 29, said.
Ahart uses first class mail to send packages to the Lower 48 states, Mexico and Canada. In addition to the mail delivery being slower, he’s also juggling the rising prices. The items he is shipping are sometimes very small and weigh less than a pound. So other privatized shipping options like UPS or FedEx are not as cost effective, Ahart said.
He is not alone in worrying about the effects of the shipping delays on Kansas City businesses.
Larry Wigger, an assistant professor studying supply chain management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said he is watching how these changes will affect local businesses and consumers in the long term.
He offered this example: If a local business needs to ship a package to a customer in Massachusetts, but a package is now taking five days to arrive instead of two, local businesses will likely consider quicker shipping options other than the Postal Service.
“The perception is, right or wrong, the majority of the time the customer wants it now,” Wigger said. “And so businesses are trying to accommodate that and not delay delivery on things.”
One reason Ahart doesn’t want to use another shipping option is the trickle down effect it will have on his pricing. For example, if he sells an item for $15, it will cost him about $9 to ship the product through FedEx or UPS — instead of around $3 through the Postal Service.
“There’s no feasible way for me to do that other than to quite literally double the cost of the product I’m selling,” Ahart said.
Concern about prescriptions delivery
Then there are the effects of the slowdown on residents who rely on the Postal Service to receive medication. The Postal Service handles approximately 1.2 billion prescription shipments every year, nearly 4 million a day, six days a week, according to the National Association of Letter Carriers.
“Skipping doses of medications due to delays in the mail services is extremely harmful and challenging for patients to manage,” said Samaneh Wilkinson, senior director of Pharmacy at the University of Kansas Health System.
“It can also have a downstream effect for the medical community, meaning physicians and nurses are having to kind of ensure that their patients are getting their medications and getting them in a timely fashion so that they’re getting the therapy they need,” Wilkinson said.
Last year, Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran warned DeJoy that delays to mail delivery could be the difference between life and death for those who rely on the U.S. Postal Service to deliver their prescriptions.
“Serving a rural state like Kansas, I understand well the crippling impact that losing the Postal Service would have on rural communities across the country. The Postal Service is navigating unchartered [sic] waters but it cannot fail its responsibilities. Kansans have expressed grave concern with recent mail delays, especially those waiting for prescription deliveries as timely delivery is often a matter of life and death,” Moran wrote to DeJoy.
Wilkinson advises patients to be proactive with their medications. If a prescription is delayed, they should contact their pharmacy to see what options are available.
“I would just encourage patients to remain vigilant and be proactive,” Wilkinson said. “Contact pharmacies and contact pharmacists for some direction if they’re not finding their packages.”
What about letters and bills sent locally?
Kansas Citians sending letters locally or paying bills by mail in the metro area don’t need to worry.
The Postal Service said first-class mail sent to addresses within the same local area will not be affected. You can still expect the shipping time to be two days.
What can I do to get my packages and letters delivered on time?
In short, send things early.
People should plan ahead and expect that things will take longer, said Wigger, the UMKC supply chain expert.
If you need to send a package that is last minute or urgent — and you are not sending it locally — you may want to look at options other than through the Postal Service. The farther away a package is shipped, you may see higher than usual prices and longer shipping times.
Here’s where you can see holiday shipping deadlines for the Postal Service, UPS and FedEx.
Want to see how fast pieces of mail you send will arrive? This tool from The Washington Post can help you estimate how long a package may take to arrive, depending on the ZIP code it’s shipped from.
Do you have more questions about life in Kansas City? Let our new Service Journalism team know at kcq@kcstar.com or using this form.
