Calling the six-days-a-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 Saturdays, and local post offices would remain open for business Saturdays.
Within hours of the announcement, U.S. Rep. Susan Davis slammed the cut.
“While the USPS is certainly facing a critical financial situation, eliminating delivery on Saturday is not going to provide the savings necessary to right the ship," said Davis. whose 53rd Congressional District includes La Mesa, Spring Valley and Lemon Grove.
She continued:
This decision will only have a detrimental impact on postal customers and small businesses, many of whom have contacted my office. The postal service is an American institution people depend on and we need to give it the tools it needs to be robust rather than cutting it off at the knees.
There is also a question of the legality of USPS's move. Congress enacted legislation directing the USPS to maintain Saturday delivery and the USPS should go through Congress if it wants to alter delivery. The fact that a bipartisan majority of my colleagues and I cosponsored legislation to maintain Saturday delivery in the last Congress says that representatives and the people we represent want their voices heard on this issue.
There is no doubt that Congress needs to make postal reform a top priority. Congress and the USPS need to look together at all potential proposals within a broad context.
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.
How will this change affect you? Will you miss getting mail on Saturdays?
