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In city carrier operations, declines in mail volume, improved productivities, and increases in possible deliveries made it necessary to adjust carrier routes. The dramatic decline in mail volume led to an October agreement with the National Association of Letter Carriers that enabled joint evaluation of nearly every city carrier route in the country. This historic agreement allowed for speedier, data-driven route adjustments that reduced costs and improved service stability. Adjustments eliminated approximately 11,000 city delivery routes. By consolidating routes, delivery point growth was absorbed while reducing the number of routes. As a result, the number of deliveries per route increased from 535 to more than 581.
Although there is continuing growth in rural routes, the average workhours per week has declined by more than 116,000 due to the dramatic volume declines. The table below shows the number and change in city, rural, and highway contract routes.
Delivery Routes by Type
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