The U.S. Postal Service is fraudulently advertising Priority Mail as an inexpensive two-day delivery service on television and in newspapers, charges watchdog group PostalWatch.
As much as 27% of Priority Mail fails to reach its destination within two days, said a new study from the Washington, DC-based group.
The USPS campaign includes a billboard in New York’s Times Square, a 30-second national television commercial and a full-color ad placed in major newspapers around the country.
USPS officials could not be reached for comment at deadline.
“The ads misrepresent Priority Mail as a low-cost two-day service, while failing to disclose that first class letters, at nearly one-tenth the cost (37 cents vs. $3.85), generally arrive just as soon, if not sooner than do Priority Mail letters,” said Postal Watch executive director Rick Merritt in a statement.
The study also revealed that 45% of all first class letters arrive at their destination within one day compared to only 26.6% of Priority Mail and that less than 73% of the Priority Mail during the past five quarters actually arrived within two days.
PostalWatch also charges that newspaper ads claim that Priority Mail is “Used to ship more business packages than any other two-day service” but neglects to mention that it does not guarantee to deliver Priority Mail within two days and did not do so very often.
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