Postal Service Looking for Five Day Week

Filed in National by on March 24, 2010

This idea has been kicked around for several years now, but the US Postal Service is now taking the first formal steps toward five-day delivery:

The postal governing board agreed to ask the independent Postal Regulatory Commission for an opinion on dropping Saturday delivery. That request goes to the commission next week.

Under the proposal, mail delivery to homes and businesses and mail collection from blue mailboxes would be limited to Monday through Friday.

However, post offices that are now open on Saturdays would remain open, and Express Mail delivery service would still be available seven days a week.

In addition to getting the opinion of the Regulatory Commission, the Postal Service would need, and this should now strike fear into the heart of anyone trying to accomplish anything, the approval of Congress. I can see it now: Michelle Bachmann calling people to arms to defend their right to mail stuff on Saturday from the oppression of socialist tyranny blah, blah, blah…

But seriously, as the report notes, action is necessary because the post office is rapidly losing both business and money:

As Americans turned more and more from paper to electronic communications, the number of items handled by the post office fell from 213 billion in 2006 to 177 billion last year. Volume is expected to shrink to 150 billion by 2020.

The post office lost $3.8 billion last year and is facing projected losses of as much as $7 billion this year.

There are a number of other ideas bouncing around, including closing some post offices and even broadening the Postal Service’s business model. Additionally, they have big pension issues, too. And of course, there’s always talk of privatization.

And on the topic, it’s always struck me funny when people cite the post office as an example of an inefficient government agency. Bear in mind, the Postal Service is fully self-funded, and receives no tax dollars. It’s really more like a heavily regulated monopoly, along the lines of a utility. Either way, it’s obvious something has to be done soon. Would anyone really miss Saturday mail deliveries?

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Comments (9)

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  1. cassandra_m says:

    I wouldn’t miss a Saturday delivery and am glad they are thinking of keeping the Saturday AM retail hours.

    But since Congress has to approve, I can see this becoming the next Amtrak fiasco — where the CW is that they need to cut back service, but no Congresscritter will let them close a station in their district. So you end up with dumb routes and out of whack subsidies.

    I wonder how many people they would let go because of this?

  2. bamboozer says:

    I think it will happen, perhaps must happen. The regular mail is diminishing rapidly as people use email and business is way down.
    Will I miss Saturday delivery? Yes, at first, no as time go’s by.

  3. MarkH says:

    I’d prefer they’d skip Tuesday as I don’t seem to get much mail that day, but whatever….Netflix users will be in a bit of a quandry, but they’ll get over it 🙂

  4. John Manifold says:

    Like The News Journal and commercial radio, the postal service has reacted to changes in the economy and the consumer market by offering less. Insufficient staffing causes lines even at off-hours. Express mail is hideously inconvenient for business and individual users. The USPS needs vision and investment. Obviously, some capital costs [post offices] might have to be closed, but the delivery business should be expanding, even if first class mail receds.

  5. Joanne Christian says:

    Can I trade Saturday delivery for extended hours some other day of the week? Like DMV. Thank you.

    I do feel sorry for the older people though, who really hope that mail is coming with something for them to read, or brighten their day.

    And then there’s Ebay!!! Hasn’t Ebay helped the postal system at all? Seems like everytime I go to the post office, Ebay entrepeneurs are all around me. Extended hours would help.

  6. JustTheFacts says:

    Ebay has helped, as has Netflix, etc., but in no way can those online ventures make up for the enormous loss in first class mail.

    Just think about all of the banks, insurance companies, etc., that you now receive paperless statements and billing for…

  7. Scott P says:

    And also remember that the PO has regulations and mandates on it that prevent it from doing the things that a normal struggling business would do. They can’t raise prices without approval (and that is now tied to the rate of inflation, which, with it low, explains why stamp prices are not going up this year). Also, they are required to have a post office in every ZIP code and to deliver to every address, no matter how costly or inefficient it is. So something has to give.

  8. skippertee says:

    Yea,the postal service has my sympathy.They operate under so many constraints that benefit UPS and FEDEX it’s fucking laughable.They do a damn good job with what they can pry-bar out of congress.

  9. Joanne Christian says:

    And think about the credit card applications decrease alone…..tends to make one smile.