WASHINGTON – The U.S. Postal Service is considering a change that would help the cash-strapped agency save money but could delay deliveries to certain customers.

The plan would allow the Postal Service to adjust delivery in rural areas and extend current delivery times by one day. Mail would continue to be delivered in five days or less across the country.

And the changes would provide faster delivery service to customers within 50 miles of the Postal Service’s largest processing facilities, where the majority of letters and packages arrive, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told the Washington Post, which first reported on the incident.

“At the end of the day, I think some of the mail is arriving 12 hours late. I think that’s the price we’ve had to pay for neglecting this place,” DeJoy said. “If you look around in any other country, delivery takes longer and is much more expensive. We’re trying to save the Postal Service — not figuratively, not to advocate for something. We’re trying to save the Postal Service literally.”

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The Postal Service on Thursday submitted plans to its regulator, the nine-member Board of Regents, to hold public hearings to solicit feedback on the proposed changes. The changes would also have to be reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission, but the panel’s recommendation is not binding.

There will be no changes before the election on November 5

Four years ago, the Postal Service faced multiple lawsuits over concerns that similar cost-cutting measures would interfere with elections. The cost-cutting measures, led by DeJoy, an appointee of President Donald Trump, brought mail delivery to a halt across the country. Experts said the measures jeopardized access to the polls for tens of millions of Americans.

According to the University of Florida’s U.S. Elections Project, the agency ultimately helped nearly half of all voters in 2020 request or cast ballots by mail.

Nearly 98 percent of ballots were handed over by voters to election officials within three days. The agency has received widespread praise for its handling of ballots in numerous elections since then, the Post reported.

Under the new plan, the Postal Service would hold letters and packages at certain facilities for an extra day instead of immediately transporting them for processing and delivery, DeJoy told the Post. That would extend acceptable delivery times for mail over longer distances.

Pilot projects on this policy have been running for months in certain, predominantly rural areas.

The Postal Service has struggled to meet delivery standards in recent months. According to postal data firm SnailWorks, the agency delivered 83.4 percent of first-class mail on time during the week of Aug. 12. That was above the agency’s annual average of 81 percent, but far from the agency’s goal of 95 percent on-time delivery.

Because of the one-day delay in delivery to rural areas, which often negatively impacts delivery times, the Postal Service expects to exceed the 95 percent target nationwide, the agency said.

The proposal sparked criticism from members of Congress.

“Any attempt to degrade service while raising prices is a recipe for a death spiral at the Postal Service,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a leading DeJoy critic, said in a statement to the Post. “This is the second time Postmaster General DeJoy has proposed lower service standards. He might as well announce a return to horse-drawn carriage mail delivery.”