On Thursday, U.S. Reps. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., and Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., led a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, chastising the United States Postal Service for lowering its delivery standards for Fiscal Year 2025.

The bipartisan letter was signed by eight members, who stressed the need for DeJoy to address these service issues within his agency, as millions of Americans depend on timely deliveries.

“The American people deserve a Postal Service that is transparent, accountable, and committed to service excellence,” the members emphasized.

The full letter —

Postmaster General DeJoy:

We write to express our deep concern with the recent decision by the U.S. Postal Service to reduce its on-time delivery performance targets for Fiscal Year 2025.

On Nov. 29, 2024, USPS notified the Postal Regulatory Commission of its revised performance targets for FY 2025, which include 87% on-time delivery for two-day first-class mail and 80% on-time delivery for three-to-five-day first-class mail. Not only are these numbers down from the agency’s FY 2024 targets of 93% and 90.3%, respectively, but they are the lowest levels since FY 2021, when USPS revised its targets mid-year due to the significant operational challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the decision to adjust delivery standards during the pandemic was understandable given the unprecedented challenges faced at the time, the current situation is markedly different. The latest reductions come after USPS failed to meet its on-time delivery goals across a range of first-class mail in FY 2024 — a failure entirely of its own making. Despite repeated warnings from us, our constituents, and postal workers across the country, USPS chose to pursue the misguided Delivering for America plan, severely undermining mail operations and service quality nationwide.

The negative impact has been clear: in FY 2024, two-day mail performance declined by 4.3 percentage points, while three-to-five-day mail dropped by 11.1 points nationwide compared to FY 2023, with some postal districts experiencing even steeper declines. These drops are striking, given USPS’s constant assurances in congressional correspondence, hearings, and public input meetings that the DFA plan would enhance, not hinder, delivery performance.

Instead of directly addressing the issues that caused the agency to miss its targets in FY 2024, USPS has now chosen to lower its service standards — concealing its shortcomings, deflecting public criticism, and likely paving the way for further reductions in mail service to our communities. This decision sidesteps accountability and improvement, eroding public trust and setting a troubling precedent for future performance evaluations.

With this in mind, we request that USPS provide answers to the following questions no later than Jan. 15, 2025:

1. Given the concerns raised about the DFA plan, will USPS consider revising or suspending parts of the plan in light of its failure to meet delivery targets for FY 2024?

2. How does USPS plan to evaluate the impact of the reduced delivery targets on rural residents and businesses that rely heavily on timely mail delivery, and what steps will be taken to mitigate any negative effects?

3. What assurances can USPS provide that the reduction in performance targets for FY 2025 will not set a precedent for future declines in mail delivery standards, and how will the agency work to restore high standards of service for all customers, especially in rural and underserved areas?

The American people deserve a Postal Service that is transparent, accountable, and committed to service excellence, and we look forward to your answers to these questions.