U.S Postal Service Plans Cuts

Facing bankruptcy, the U.S Postal Service is cutting its delivery standards for the first time in 40 years.

The agency is planning cuts to first-class mail next spring that will slow delivery, the Huffington Post reports.

The implications would cut expectations that a letter dropped in the mail today, would arrive next-day. 

Instead, a letter dropped in the mail today, may not reach a neighbor for at least two days. This could also impact time-sensitive newspapers and magazines, Netflix's DVD delivery and mail-order prescription drugs.

The delivery changes are part of an estimated $3 billion in reductions from the Postal Service in an effort to quickly trim costs.

The cuts, which are being finalized now, would close roughly 250 of the nearly 500 mail processing centers across the United States by spring. As many as 100,000 postal employees could be cut as a result of the processing center closures.

The agency hopes to save upwards of $6.5 billion a year with these measures.

The volume of first-class mail has decreased in recent years. The volume of first-class mail was 98 billion in 2006, but that number has dropped to less than 78 billion this year, according to the Associated Press.

The Associated Press also reports that the Postal Service will increase the price of first class mail by 1-cent, to 45 cents, starting Jan. 22.