The United States Postal Service (USPS) issued a statement on January 15, announcing that there has been an improvement in delivery performance during the recent holiday season. On average, mail and packages are being delivered within 2.5 days, which is better than the previous year’s 2.8 days.
According to USPS, a total of 160 billion pieces of mail and packages were delivered during this season from November 15 to January 9. The organization attributed the shortened delivery times to new logistical planning and execution, as well as significant investments in new technologies.
In addition, USPS mentioned that customer satisfaction has also seen an increase. Data shows that compared to a year ago, customer service inquiries related to holiday season mail and packages have decreased by 44%, and calls to USPS customer service centers have also decreased by 23%.
USPS Postmaster General David Steiner stated in the release, “These achievements reflect the resilience of our employees and the continued improvements to our network that we are driving.”
Steiner added, “In the coming year, we will continue to enhance service quality, optimize our network, increase reliability, shorten delivery times, and provide high-value products and services to residential and business customers in every community we serve.”
The best on-time delivery performance was seen at the “last mile” Destination Delivery Units (DDUs), which are responsible for the final delivery of mail to designated addresses.
Last month, USPS announced the opening of its DDU end delivery network to a wider range of customers. There are over 18,000 DDUs across the United States.
This service was typically reserved for a few “very large customers.” However, starting from the end of January or early February, USPS will begin accepting bids from shippers of all sizes who wish to utilize the DDU end delivery service.
Steiner noted, “In the logistics industry, the highest delivery costs are often in the ‘last mile’ of the route. As part of our universal service obligation, we deliver mail to over 170 million addresses at least six days a week, making us a natural leader in end delivery.”
He explained, “We believe that this initiative will be attractive to many shippers who are striving to deliver goods to customers quickly and reliably. Our solution is to establish a fair bidding process that allows the market to drive prices based on optimal volumes and identify the most suitable local delivery combinations.”
USPS expressed confidence that leveraging the DDU service will drive overall revenue growth, which will help improve its overall financial viability.
Despite the expansion of DDU services, USPS continues to face operational losses.
According to USPS’s statement released on November 14, the net loss for the 2025 fiscal year was $9 billion, a slight decrease from the previous year’s $9.5 billion. The net loss was $6.5 billion in the 2023 fiscal year.
Chief Financial Officer Luke Grossmann stated that the 2025 results reflect difficulties in cost structures and the ongoing decline in mail volume. In 2024, USPS handled 1,124.56 billion pieces of mail, which decreased to 1,086.95 billion in 2025.
USPS stated, “The Postal Service is seeking further administrative and legislative reforms to improve outdated and unreasonable financial and regulatory burdens.”
These reforms include adjusting the Federal Employees Retirement System (CSRS) retirement pension fund rules, achieving diversification of retirement pension assets, and raising the statutory debt ceiling.
In August of last year, advocacy group “Keep US Posted” called on Steiner to abandon the previous USPS strategy of continuously raising postage rates, favoring packages over mail, and slowing delivery speeds, believing that these policies were undermining the USPS’s financial viability.
During the tenure of former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, USPS introduced the “Delivering for America” 10-year plan announced in 2021, aimed at improving the organization’s financial and operational efficiency.
Executive Director of Keep US Posted, Kevin Yoder, stated in August, “The ‘Delivering for America’ plan promised to increase package volume, reduce costs, and achieve financial balance for the Postal Service by 2023, but the agency accrued a $6.5 billion loss for that fiscal year and continues to bleed.”
He emphasized, “Steiner should devise and implement his own strategies to assist USPS in recovery, enabling it to continue providing delivery services to every American six days a week.”
Epoch Times reached out to USPS for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.