Government Relations

Our mission

The Postal Service’s Government Relations and Public Policy department plays a critical role in developing the organization’s legislative strategy, coordinating information sharing across government, and facilitating transparency and communication with Congress and other federal agencies.

Get up to speed on the latest USPS topic

View now

Current initiatives

Despite working through historic challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Postal Service is undergoing a significant transformation of our organization that will modernize our delivery network and allow the organization to thrive into the future. During our most recent peak holiday season, we accepted record volume, which was delivered with an average transit time of just 2.7 days. We achieved this remarkable success due to the progress we made in implementing the initiatives identified in our Delivering for America 10-Year Strategic Plan. Though the majority of initiatives can be achieved consistent with the Postal Service’s own authority, reform of our retiree health benefit obligations required congressional action.

In April 2022, the President signed into law the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, critically important legislation that, when paired with the full implementation of the Delivering for America Plan, will help sustain our mission to provide reliable and affordable service to every address in America six days, and sometimes seven days, a week.

We welcome the important reforms required by the legislation and have already begun to implement the law’s new requirements, including developing an interactive public dashboard to improve transparency about our service performance. As a part of our work to implement the Delivering for America Plan and provide service excellence to the American people, including capitalizing on the reach of our vast network when relevant new growth opportunities are identified, we’re also working on the following key initiatives:

USPS Connect: USPS Connect is a new set of four affordable delivery solutions to help American businesses meet growing consumer demand for fast delivery. The solutions capitalize on ongoing network improvements, new processing equipment, and increased operational precision to enhance our business customer offerings and improve service across the country. We are rolling out USPS Connect in phases, nationwide. To learn more, visit https://www.uspsconnect.com/
Delivering COVID-19 Test Kits: In partnership with the Administration, we began shipping a half-billion COVID test kits to Americans in late January. The 650,000 women and men of the Postal Service are ready to continue delivering and proud to play a critical role in support of the health needs of the American public. The strategies that yielded improvements to our peak holiday season performance have allowed the Postal Service to distribute test kits efficiently and cost effectively nationwide.
Modernizing the Postal Vehicle Fleet: Through the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) program, we are working to replace our outdated 30-year-old delivery fleet with purpose-built vehicles that will maximize efficiency, deliver advanced vehicle and safety technology, and increase cargo capacity. The NGDV program will deliver its first 10,019 battery electric vehicles (BEV) beginning in 2023, out of a total 50,000 vehicles in the order placed in March of 2022. Congress is aware of the additional resources required if Congress would prefer the Postal Service to accelerate the electrification of our delivery vehicle fleet. The Postal Service remains committed to the fiscally responsible roll-out of electric-powered vehicles and we will continue to pursue the acquisition of additional BEV as additional funding—from either internal or congressional sources—becomes available. It’s important to note that the current NGDV program contract enables flexibility to significantly increase the level of electrification when funding is available, even after an order is placed.

Our plan for the future

promotion image for the Delivering for America plan

In recent years, rapidly declining mail volumes and shifting customer demand due to the growth in e-commerce have dramatically changed our marketplace. To effectively serve our customers in the 21st century, the Postal Service has published a 10-year plan, Delivering for America, to return the organization to financial sustainability and achieve service excellence.

The strategies and initiatives outlined in our plan include adopting new technologies, adjusting our network, and innovating our products and services to meet the needs of today’s customers. Congress will play an important role in providing oversight to that process, and the Government Relations and Public Policy Department is committed to our role in facilitating communication, education, and ensuring transparency from the Postal Service.

Together with recently enacted legislative reforms, the Delivering for America plan’s operational and revenue growth initiatives will improve the financial condition of the Postal Service and allow the organization to continue to operate as a self-funded entity, independent from taxpayer support. It would also sustain our mission to provide reliable and affordable service to every address in America six days and sometimes seven days a week.