Why your USPS mail package delivery is about to get slower

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NPR

More of your mail is about to get slower. First it was letters and now some packages may take longer to arrive.

The U.S. Postal Service currently considers a first-class package to be late if it's delivered more than three days after it was sent. But under new standards that take effect next month, more than 30% of first-class packages will be seen as delivered on time if they arrive within four or five days.

The new standards are part of the postal service's move to rely more on its own ground transportation network rather than using air transport. The USPS wants to be more efficient, and it says it will save money by reducing air costs.

Here's what the changes will look like

The changes that take effect on May 1 deal only with first-class packages, which mainly include small and lightweight packages such as prescription drug orders. Right now, more than 20% of those packages have a two-day delivery standard, and nearly 80% have a three-day standard.