Snail mail slows down even more
Letter was 6 days on the road to Tallahassee
People still use the U.S. Postal Service to pay bills. They still send birthday cards, postcards and political mailers, too.
But the number of people regularly sending first-class mail is dropping, and the amount of time it takes for letters to arrive is getting longer and longer, according to the Postal Service.
Figures from the Postal Service show drops in on-time delivery for first-class stamped mail for the first three months of this year when compared to the same time last year.
An independent organization that tests post office performance found about 63 percent of first-class mail that would typically take three to five days - a letter sent from Washington to Boston, for example - arrived on time. That compares to about 84 percent of mail arriving on time in the same period in 2014.
For two-day mail - a card sent from Washington to New York City - service was better, with 90 percent arriving on time, but that's down from 93 percent last year.
To gauge mail delivery, the Times-Union sent first-class letters to six cities in Florida on Tuesday, May 5. Letters to Orlando, Pensacola and Tampa arrived two days later on May 7.
But a letter sent from Jacksonville to Marco Island, which is south of Naples, arrived May 9.
It took even longer for letters to reach Tallahassee and Miami. They went on a six-day trip and were received May 11.
The Postal Service says horrible winter weather that grounded flights and disrupted service in many parts of the country was part of the problem earlier this year.
Brian Baldwin, a vice president of Jacksonville-based Raintree Graphics, said his company works with the Postal Service regularly, and his customers are starting to understand the mail is not an exact process.
"You're looking for a window," he said. "You're not looking for a day."
He said his company worked with candidates in both rounds of the recent local elections when they had to be sure they had everything in plenty of time.
Political mail gets special labeling and handling, Baldwin said, but "you still have to plan it out."
Baldwin said if a customer wants to guarantee a mailer arrives on a Friday, for instance, he suggests to them the whole shipment is dropped in the mail on a Monday.
"There's no guarantee you can hit that day," he said.
Another reason for the lower performance scores, said the Postal Service, is operational changes it made in January amid long-time financial woes and years of declining mail volume. Among the changes: eliminating overnight delivery for local first-class letters and consolidating dozens of mail processing facilities.
Representatives from Community First and VyStar credit unions, both based out of Jacksonville, said they saw some delays in mailed bill payments a few years ago, but over time customers have either started paying their bills online or sending payments earlier.
Both companies said the amount of complaints they've received this year are inconsequential.
Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, said the delays are avoidable.
"We should be boosting service and returning to prompt mail delivery," he said. "Closing more postal sorting facilities will only make things worse."
Dionne Montague, the North Florida spokeswomen for the Postal Service, said a recent Gallup Poll, released May 6, showed Americans are happy with their mail service.
"Of 20 different areas included in this year's survey, satisfaction with mail delivery came out on top with 90 percent of Americans satisfied - which reinforces the U.S. Postal Service's No. 1 ranking among major government agencies in November 2014," Montague said.
She did acknowledge the recent policy changes.
"The change to service standards that went into effect in January of this year affects roughly 9 percent of America's total mail volume, or up to 16 percent of first-class mail," Montague said.
Priority mail, packages, medicine or prescriptions and standard mail are not affected by the new policies, she said.
"Customers with concerns involving their mail service are encouraged to reach out to the Postal Service immediately, so we can work with them to resolve any issues," Montage said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Joe Daraskevich: (904) 359-4308