Washington – End to Saturday Mail Delivery Near

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Washington – Postmaster General John Potter said Tuesday that he intends to seek congressional approval to cut Saturday delivery as part of a wide-ranging plan to close a multi-billion dollar budget gap.

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Though the idea of cutting service from six to five days has gotten a cool reception on Capitol Hill, Potter said that the plan would include enough flexibility so that customers who need Saturday service can get it and that this and other changes need to be implemented for the Postal Service to survive.

“We built a plan that we think is very reasonable. … We intend to pursue that,” he said. “It’s a move that we simply have to make.”

The financially struggling Postal Service is trying to find ways to get out of the red without resorting to taxpayer aid. Potter announced Tuesday that the service could lose a staggering $7 billion this year — losses attributed to a combination of the recession and the predominance of e-mail and other electronic forms of communication.

It is estimated that cutting Saturday delivery, a move that requires congressional permission, could save $3.5 billion a year.

Potter said the Postal Service, aside from trying to cut down service days, would also use price increases in “moderation” to close the budget gap as well as pursue other changes. He urged regulators to act quickly in helping the Postal Service implement those changes and expressed optimism that the service could eventually get above water.

Though he said privatization had been on the table during a lengthy internal review, that option appeared to be ruled out. One consultant, Thomas Dohrmann from McKinsey & Company, said privatization was “unlikely” in part because it would be hard to find a buyer.

“We need to rethink everything and every approach to move the Postal Service forward,” Potter said. “We need to reinvest, redefine and reinvigorate the value of mail to business and households.”

The Postal Service posted $3.8 billion in losses last year. Mail volume was down 13 percent, a decline officials say will continue.

Potter said mail volume went from 213 billion pieces in 2006 to a projected 166 billion pieces in fiscal 2010


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16 Comments
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Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

Paying more and more TAX = to less and less services

Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
14 years ago

Boruch Hashem!! Now Yidden won’t be tempted to get the mail on Shabbos.

Clif Claven
Clif Claven
14 years ago

So, now we can have shomer shabbos postmen!

Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

good news – i know a frum mail carrier who had problems years ago they were making him work on shabbos – he got a brachah from Rebbe Aharon Teitelbaum (before he became Rebbe) and B”H he has no problems now

Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

The MTA and USPS keep on raising fees and cutting services.

Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

If my regular carrier is not on, I do not get m,y mail!! No matter how correctly it is addressed!! I can have it incorrectly addressed when my carrier is here with just my name and my zip code and I will receive my mail!!

Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

Just to show how a government run organization will not survive!! Period! (Think health care reform..)

Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

For us it’s no difference. At least every other week our mail route is skipped.
To the above comment about people not being tempted to open mail on Shabbos, it’s true, there are halachos involved and yet i have watched too many people look at their mail or even taken it into their homes. No, they were real frum people some even dressed in the “holier than thou garb”!
The post office has become a haven for those just off the boat. We had a Chinese who held the envelopes vertically, trying to read it the Chinese way.
In my mothers building, the mailclerk had the spouse write the names in their home language.

Tax Yid
Tax Yid
14 years ago

They should outsource this to UPS. They will whip it into shape. i avoid the p/o as much as possible. Expensive and not reliable.

Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

Oy vey. Where will I find a shabbos goy.

Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

Most of us don’t get much really important hardcopy postal deliveries anymore and even fewer of us use the mail to send responses given the ease of paying bills via the internet. For those challenged individuals who cannot or will not the internet and email than let them pay the costs of this bloated system. There is no reason why any normal person needs to rely on the postal service today for more than a de minimus amount of their communication needs.

PMO
PMO
14 years ago

Personally, I’d rather see the Post Office go down to delivering mail only 2-3 times per week for standard 1st class. I once saw a proposal to only deliver on the even side of the street Monday-Wednesday-Friday and the odd side Tuesday-Thusday-Saturday for residential mail. This would allow a single postal worker to deliver the mail on TWO routes… that is double the mail in the same 6 day period. This will effectively cut the number of carriers needed in HALF. Express and package delivery could be handled just like UPS and FedEx with targeted delivery. Since the postman will be on the street anyway, it is no big deal to walk across the street to deliver a single express envelope or package. They showed they could cut delivery-specific costs by about 35%

I would also like to see post offices consolidated. Here in FL, there are 4 post offices within 4 miles of my house. That is ridiculous waste.