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Saturday Mail Delivery to End, Will You Miss It?

The U.S. Postal Service announced it will end Saturday mail delivery by Aug. 1. Speak out: How will this affect you?

Calling the six-days-per-week mail delivery business model “no longer sustainable,” the U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday it will eliminate Saturday delivery of mail by Aug. 1.

The plan to change delivery from six days a week to five would only affect first-class mail. Packages, mail-order medicines, priority and express mail would still be delivered on Saturdays, and local post offices will remain open for business Saturdays.

According to the U.S. Postal Service, the reasons are continued economic struggles and the increasing use of the Internet for communications and bill paying by consumers. The U.S. Postal Service is also the only federal agency required to pre-fund health benefits for retirees, and those costs are escalating quickly.

“Our current business model of delivering mail six days a week is no longer sustainable. We must change in order to remain an integral part of the American community for decades to come.”

Saturday is the lightest mail delivery day by volume and many businesses are closed on Saturdays, according to the U.S. Postal Service. However, many residents receive print magazines and ads on Saturdays in the mail that may be shifted to another day.

A Rasmussen poll on mail delivery in 2012 showed “Three-out-of-four Americans (75%) would prefer the U.S. Postal Service cut mail delivery to five days a week rather than receive government subsidies to cover ongoing losses.”

A USA Today/Gallup poll in 2010 found the majority of U.S. residents surveyed were ok with eliminating Saturday delivery. The March 2010 telephone survey of 999 adults revealed people age 55 and older were more likely than younger people to have used the mail to pay a bill or send a letter in the past two weeks.

Speak out: How will this change affect you? Will you miss getting mail on Saturdays?

 


Ron Moon February 7, 2013 at 12:14 am
One more example of the U.S. Government's inabi;ity to run a Business. They'll save 2 Billion Dollars but will still lose 12 Billion Dollars. That's good management? P.S. Obama borrowed 48 Billion Dollars today under the recently increased Credit Limit with the bulk of those funds given to support Federal Government Pesions. That's a fact Jack!!!
Mr. Logical February 7, 2013 at 03:00 am
Will not miss Saturdays delivery of ads.
Rich February 7, 2013 at 10:05 am
But the company who sends the ad, profits from it and hires people will sure miss it. How about the lost jobs, in the postal service and outside of it, that will not have a paycheck to spend at those companies?
Ern Batavia February 7, 2013 at 10:53 am
My prediction: The next step, within a few years, will be the end of home delivery....either gang boxes every few blocks, or that enjoyable trip to the Post Office.
Vito Spago February 7, 2013 at 11:15 am
Most real businesses, when their business is down, they reinvent themselves and try to offer increased service for less money to bring back their businesses. They automate more and lay off employees. The USPS does the exact opposite. The increase the price of stamps and cut services and keep all their employees. Is the USPS stupid or just another bloated government entity with a monopoly. USPS needs to drop the price of stamps, go to 7 day delivery and cut the number of employees. Make the employees work harder and do 7 day delivery for less cost. What would happen to Fedex and UPS if they ran their businesses like the USPS.
Washy February 7, 2013 at 11:35 am
I will never know they don't deliver on Sat, as it is the only day of the week I get my mail. I don't see a need to kill trees to send me a bill I can get on my smart phone or in my email. So once a week I go to my mail box and end up recycling 95percent of the mail before it ever comes into my house. I use coupons off my phone so don't need those anymore. When I ship packages however I do still use USPS as it has never failed me (but perhaps I have failed them LOL but my love the oxygen is so much more then my love of paper mail)
ATC February 7, 2013 at 11:50 am
Think about this; If the USPS charged full price for junk mail, several things would happen.
1. The amount of junk mail would dramatically decline (99% of which is unwanted, un-needed, unread, and goes straight to landfills). Environmentally, a huge win in every way. 2. The revenue to the USPS would decline as well. But, 3. The labor, equipment, and vehicles required to process and deliver the mail would decline significantly as well, so the USPS could likely do the job with less revenue. Hard-mail is a dying idea. Most things that come/go in a mailbox can and likely should now be done electronically. Very few things "require" a hard copy these days. USPS is a dying entity, unless they completely change their operating methods and philosophy, reinventing themselves. Packages, yes. But envelopes? Flyers? No.
Steven Kippel February 7, 2013 at 12:59 pm
The USPS does way more than Fed Ex and UPS and for less. They're only troubled because the GOP congress in 2006 required the USPS to fully fund retirement for 75 years in advance, and tied the price of stamps to inflation. And now they're telling the USPS to just cut back services, which also cuts back their income and competitiveness.
It's difficult to run a business when you can't increase your prices as your own costs increase, and no other company in the world is required to fully fund retirement 75 years in advance. The USPS facilitates over $1 trillion in economic activity every year at no cost to the US government. Why would you want to discourage that?
Eye on the Desert February 7, 2013 at 01:18 pm
Once again, proving that the government is completely incapable of doing anything efficiently, except being inefficient. Best move would be to shut down the USPS completely, and outsource mail delivery to FedEx and UPS.
desertpatriot February 7, 2013 at 01:36 pm
all good points vito. but one that is missing is the bloated government pensions these government employees receive when they retire. the best solution to cut costs is to cancel all existing pension contracts and have them invest in a 401k like the rest of us. imagine the guilt these employees must experience each day knowing they are government parasites sucking the life out of the u.s. taxpayers
ATC February 7, 2013 at 01:52 pm
Really, Steve? You're going to blame the USPS's troubles on the GOP? The mandate you refer to DOES NOT require them to fully fund "retirement" for 75 years, but rather retirement "health benefits". This is not a "GOP" or a "Dem" issue. The fact that the USPS is “kinda” a government agengy, but “not really” a government agency…just complicates any attempt for it to actually sustain itself. And the reality is that they have been "troubled" for decades, with the main gist of their problem being that their business model just doesn't work in an electronic online age.
Continually fewer and fewer people use "hard copy" mail, which leaves only junk mail to provide their revenue. And that very junk mail is not only larger and more difficult to handle, it also gets significantly lower rates. Double whammy. As for their package rates; yes, I usually use USPS rather than UPS or FedEx, because their rates are indeed better. But if they are struggling financially, then even that part of their business is unsustainable. According to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, in order to return to profitability, the Postal Service needs to reduce its career workforce by approximately 220,000 by 2015, but cannot do so under the terms of existing collective bargain agreements.
LLODOWN February 7, 2013 at 03:23 pm
@Desertpatriot I hear ya man! SMH
Deanaldo February 7, 2013 at 05:27 pm
Another industry dying a slow death with "union cancer". Unions should not allowed in public sector because they have no competition (Ie: Police, fire, public schools, etc.). Post office sloths barley show up for 20 years and get full pay and helth benifits for life!
Yes, we (society) needs the post office, fire departments, police and teachers but getting a job in one of those places should not be the gravy train for life (at the tax payers expense). Pay a reaosnble wage for a reasonable amount of work, not just years of service (like the priviate sector) and have them save for their own retirement like the rest of us (that pay them to sit on their ass).
Linda Davis February 7, 2013 at 10:23 pm
Won't miss Saturday delivery at all.
Harvey Klee February 8, 2013 at 04:35 am
Great comments. I won't miss Sat. delivery either. @Gary had an idea to make the USPS $$$ & lower SASE junk mail. Take that self-addressed-stamped-envelope out, put a rock in it & send it back. The junk mail sender will be charged USPS postage + an add'l $1.15 for the added weight.

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B.K. Holthaus May 16, 2013 at 12:56 pm
I was a teacher for 30 years. There was not ONEschool year when I didn't personally pay for schoolRead More supplies for my students ($500-$1,500 a yr)
Renee Schiavone (Editor) May 16, 2013 at 02:15 pm
@B.K.-- Thank you for your help with the community :) I have a great respect for all teachers!
B.K. Holthaus May 16, 2013 at 06:05 pm
You';re welcome, Renee but I don't really expect thanks for my contributions to the classroom. IRead More wasn't going to stand by and see kids not have the basic things they needed to get through the class and most teachers are of the same mind :) Sadly, school budgets have never covered all the needs in classrooms.