Post Office to Cease Saturday Mail

[Paolo]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02 ... rim-costs/

Thoughts?

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The U.S. Postal Service plans to announce Wednesday that it will end Saturday mail delivery, in one of the most significant steps taken to date to cut costs at the struggling agency.

A source familiar with the decision confirmed the plan to Fox News.

Under the proposal, the Postal Service will continue to deliver packages six days a week. The plan, which is aimed at saving about $2 billion, would start to take effect in August.

The move accentuates one of the agency's strong points -- package delivery has increased by 14 percent since 2010, officials say, while the delivery of letters and other mail has declined with the increasing use of email and other Internet use.

Under the new plan, mail would still be delivered to post office boxes on Saturdays. Post offices now open on Saturdays would remain open on Saturdays.

Over the past several years, the Postal Service has advocated shifting to a five-day delivery schedule for mail and packages -- and it repeatedly but unsuccessfully appealed to Congress to approve the move. Though an independent agency, the service gets no tax dollars for its day-to-day operations but is subject to congressional control.

It was not immediately clear how the service could eliminate Saturday mail without congressional approval.

But the agency clearly thinks it has a majority of the American public on its side regarding the change.

Material prepared for the Wednesday press conference by Patrick R. Donahoe, postmaster general and CEO, says Postal Service market research and other research has indicated that nearly 7 in 10 Americans support the switch to five-day delivery as a way for the Postal Service to reduce costs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[yosam7532 (imported)]

I have told my family and friends that the Postal Service should drop Saturday delivery.

Our society has become one where we want anything and everything anytime we want, not considering the cost to others and considering their time with their families.

Adding to the postal Service dropping Saturday Deliveries, I feel that all the stores should rethink being open on Sundays. I very seriously doubt that being open on Sundays is increasing their bottom line considering their cost for utilities and employees. It may actually help their bottom line if they closed on Sundays.

Just my thoughts.

[cheetaking243 (imported)]

Adding to the postal Service dropping Saturday Deliveries, I feel that all the stores should rethink being open on Sundays. I very seriously doubt that being open on Sundays is increasing their bottom line considering their cost for utilities and employees. It may actually help their bottom line if they closed on Sundays.

Actually, Sunday afternoon is by far the busiest time of the week for most retail stores. Especially grocery stores. EVERYONE goes shopping as soon as church is over.

In regards to Saturday deliveries ceasing, though, it's fine with me. As long as they're still delivering packages, it does not affect me whatsoever. It's just one less day that I have to receive a bunch of bills and junk mail. That's all I ever get through the normal mail nowadays anyway.

[Dave (imported)]

Three things:

1) I really don't need Saturday delivery of mail. A few decades ago I discovered (much to my dismay after a business deal went very bad) that Saturday delivery was used by bill collectors and process servers to deliver papers that couldn't be answered on Saturday. I don't get mail like that anymore.

2) I worry that bill collectors and other "pieces of shit" will use the two days to run out demands for payment. They demand payment in seven days and count the damn weekends when the demand letter sits in the PO and festers.

3) This financial difficulty is purely a political power play to destroy the postal union because it votes democratic in the elections. But that's all I will say about that because we are in the "deep dark cellar" and not "politics".

[devi (imported)]

I've known people who've made it a point NOT to check their mail on Saturday. Just enjoy the weekend and take care of whatever the next week. Don't worry. You'll never get caught up anyway.

[gandalf (imported)]

My thgoughts are: This move is probably about 5 years too late. I am not sure but I think that we are the only country on the planet that still has Saturday (6 days) of service.

[Losethem (imported)]

Three things:

2) I worry that bill collectors and other "pieces of shit" will use the two days to run out demands for payment. They demand payment in seven days and count the damn weekends when the demand letter sits in the PO and festers.

I've certainly taken notice how the credit card companies and others have taken to making the payment due date on my bills the same Sunday of each month hoping I'll not take notice of when the date on the bill is and be sure I pay it a bit ahead of time. They want you to miss payment so they can assess the huge late payment fees. They don't care that you're making payment on time, they're perfectly happy to get it a day or more later so long as you pay it within 30 days so they can collect those late payment fees.

Those kinds of problems need to be addressed. It should be illegal to make your bill due on a date you have no reasonable expectation that the people you're doing business with will be able to collect it/have it delivered to them. This other hocus-pocus of not being able to accept electronic transfers from our bank accounts on weekends and holidays need to stop as well. You should be able to have that electronic transfer happen no matter what day it is. Electrons do not take weekends or holidays off.

--LT

[Slammr (imported)]

I almost never send a letter through snail mail. I think the last thing I sent in was a mail-in rebate. All my correspondence is by email or other type of electronic messaging. The only time I go to the post office is to pick up registered mail, and I dread every trip I have to make to it. I can be assured the line will be long, stretching out the door probably.

I have a mailbox at a local mailbox place, and ship and receive packages from there. I pay all my bills online.

I won't miss Saturday delivery.

[considering (imported)]

...But would you miss mail five days a week? Friends of mine in New Zealand are about to find out as their delivery service is going to be scaled back to three days a week. Post offices will be open five days but on limited hours and, much like here, in larger cities, there will be one main post office where you need to go to do everything beyond send small packages and buy stamps. How about a day in which all the junk mail comes? That would get my vote. Each day as I root through the trash to find if there's anything I really need to see or read. I remember when the homophobic boy scouts and other groups had paper drives and we saved the newspapers etc. and gave it all to them. Of course that was when we looked forward to receiving the post. Letters, written by hand, invitations, just notes from friends....just looking at what I got today, perhaps New Zealand has the right idea...

[Wolf-Pup (imported)]

They can't go on losing the massive amount of money with the status quo. So I'm fine with this if it keeps the PO running.