USPS seeks to move away from next-day delivery

But some lawmakers are also unsure that scaling back operations is the best way for the Postal Service to try and get its finances in order.

{mosads}USPS, which is trying to cut $20 billion a year in operating costs by 2015, says the changes outlined Monday could save around $2.1 billion a year. The agency is projected to run a $14.1 billion deficit in 2012.

“The few measures that the Postal Service can adopt on its own — such as closing distribution centers and slowing down first-class mail delivery times — to extend its survival and avoid insolvency will also potentially further erode its declining business,” Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), one of the sponsors of bipartisan postal legislation in the Senate, said in a statement.

Lawmakers in both the House and Senate also said Monday’s announcement underscored the need for legislation to revamp the agency’s operations. House and Senate committees have passed dueling bills that await consideration by the full chamber.

“The postal service was first told to reduce the scale of its of mail processing operations by the Government Accountability Office in a 1964 report,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee and a sponsor of a postal overhaul bill, said in a statement. “Had USPS acted earlier, savings could have almost certainly been achieved without any impact on service.”

On Monday, Williams, the USPS vice president, said the earliest the changes would go into effect would be April, and could impact roughly 28,000 postal employees. The agency is also exploring whether to close up to 3,700 local post offices.

Patrick Donahoe, the postmaster general, said last month that lawmakers needed to give his agency the ability to act more like a business and that both chambers’ legislation fell short in that regard.