For Immediate Release: Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Contact: Nazneen Ahmed (919) 716-0060

(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein opposed U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s efforts to slow down first-class mail and other essential postal services. Forty percent of all first-class mail in the United States will be slowed down by these proposed changes.

“Postmaster General DeJoy has repeatedly failed to uphold his responsibility to preserve the Postal Service, which is the definition of an essential service for Americans,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “This latest change would delay mail delivery for North Carolinians, harm our businesses, make it harder to pay our bills, and slow down mailed medications. I urge the Postal Commission to act to prevent these harmful changes.”

Attorney General Stein and 20 other attorneys general submitted a statement of position to the Postal Regulatory Commission, an independent federal agency that has oversight over the U. S. Postal Service’s operations, urging USPS to focus on addressing last year’s mistakes, not implementing changes that would further degrade service:

“One year ago, the Postal Service implemented a series of purported cost-saving initiatives that had a devastating effect on mail service. Those initiatives, which included drastic changes to USPS’s policies with respect to extra and late trips, were implemented virtually overnight without any prior input from the Commission. Mail delivery across the nation slowed, and Americans who depended on the Postal Service for the delivery of prescription medication, paychecks, and other necessities were left stranded. The increased delays also made it more difficult for the States to perform a variety of essential functions and provide critical services to their residents…Regrettably, it appears that the Postal Service is poised to repeat many of these mistakes.”

The proposed service standards would slow down mail delivery for a significant portion of first-class mail and would significantly hinder the USPS’s mission to provide reliable service. This change would impair North Carolina and the federal government’s ability to deliver essential services in a timely manner, including providing public assistance to low-income individuals and families, running driver’s licensing and child welfare programs, and administering elections.

Attorney General Stein was joined in submitting this position statement by the Attorneys General of Pennsylvania, New York, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Virginia, the City of New York, and the City and County of San Francisco.

A copy of the statement is available here.

More on Attorney General Stein’s work to protect the postal service for North Carolinians:

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