15 million addresses in the US will no longer get mail delivered to the door under proposed new laws Source: AAP
MILLIONS of people in the United States will no longer get mail delivered to their door but will have to go to communal or curbside boxes instead under a proposal advancing through congress.
The Republican-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on an 18-13 party-line vote, approved a bill on Wednesday to direct the US Postal Service to convert 15 million addresses over the next decade to the less costly, but also less convenient delivery method.
Democrats objected to the plan, and efforts in recent years to win its adoption have failed.
"I think it's a lousy idea," Democrat Representative Stephen Lynch said.
Other lawmakers said it wouldn't work in urban areas where there's no place on city streets to put banks of "cluster boxes" with separate compartments for each address.
People with disabilities who have difficulty leaving their homes could get waivers, and people who still want delivery to their door could pay extra for it - something Lynch derided as "a delivery tax."
The measure falls far short of a comprehensive overhaul most officials agree is needed to solve the postal service's financial problems.
The committee's chairman, Republican Darrell Issa, acknowledged that at the outset but said it "provides an interim opportunity to achieve some significant cost savings."
Converting to communal or curbside delivery would save $US2 billion ($A2.16 billion) annually, Issa said, quoting from estimates that door delivery costs $US380 annually per address compared with $US240 for curbside and $US170 for centralised methods.
He said less than one per cent of all addresses nationwide would undergo a delivery change annually and that communal boxes offer a safe, locked location for packages, doing away with the need for carriers to leave packages on porches and subject to theft and bad weather.
The Postal Service reported a $US1.9 billion loss for the first three months this year despite continued cost-cutting, a 2.3 per cent rise in operating revenue and increased employee productivity.
Package business has risen but the service struggles with inflationary cost increases and a continued decline in first-class mailing as people move to the internet for letter writing and bill paying.
Postal officials have asked repeatedly for comprehensive legislation giving them more control over personnel and benefit costs and more flexibility in pricing and products.
Though various legislative proposals have been advanced, Congress has not been able to agree on a bill with broad changes.
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