Postal Service To Cut Saturday DeliveriesStaff Reports,
02:48PM / Wednesday, February 06, 2013 | |
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The United States Postal Service announced plans Wednesday to end Saturday delivery in August.
According to the Postal Service, beginning the week of Aug. 5 mail delivery will only be during weekdays but packages will continue to be delivered on Saturdays. The move is expected to save about $2 billion annually, postal officials say.
"The Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and responds to the financial realities resulting from America's changing mailing habits," said Patrick R. Donahoe, postmaster general and CEO, in a prepared statement. "We developed this approach by working with our customers to understand their delivery needs and by identifying creative ways to generate significant cost savings."
The Postal Service has been advocating to go to a five-day delivery schedule for mail and packages. However, strong growth in package delivery and projections of continued strong package growth throughout the coming decade led to the revised approach to maintain package delivery six days per week.
"Our customers see strong value in the national delivery platform we provide and maintaining a six-day delivery schedule for packages is an important part of that platform," Donahoe said. "As consumers increasingly use and rely on delivery services — especially due to the rise of e-commerce — we can play an increasingly vital role as a delivery provider of choice, and as a driver of growth opportunities for America’s businesses."
Once implemented, mail addressed to PO Boxes will continue to be delivered on Saturdays. Post offices currently open on Saturdays will remain open on Saturdays.
The Postal Service made the announcement Wednesday, more than six months in advance of the new schedule, to give residential and business customers time to plan and adjust. The Postal Service plans to publish specific guidance in the near future for residential and business customers about its new delivery schedule.
Given the ongoing financial challenges, the Postal Service Board of Governors last month directed postal management to accelerate the restructuring of Postal Service operations in order to strengthen Postal Service finances.
"The American public understands the financial challenges of the Postal Service and supports these steps as a responsible and reasonable approach to improving our financial situation," Donahoe said. "The Postal Service has a responsibility to take the steps necessary to return to long-term financial stability and ensure the continued affordability of the U.S. Mail."
The operational plan for the new delivery schedule anticipates a combination of employee reassignment and attrition.
The Postal Service is currently implementing major restructuring throughout its retail, delivery and mail processing operations. Since 2006, the Postal Service has reduced its annual cost base by approximately $15 billion, reduced the size of its career workforce by 193,000 or 28 percent, and has consolidated more than 200 mail processing locations.
While the change in the delivery schedule announced today is one of the actions needed to restore the financial health of the Postal Service, legislative change is urgently needed to address matters outside the Postal Service’s control. The Postal Service continues to seek legislation to provide it with greater flexibility to control costs and generate new revenue and encourages the 113th Congress to make postal reform legislation an urgent priority.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
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