Days Are Numbered for Saturday Mail Delivery

July 22, 2011

Falling mail volume and soaring red ink may soon doom Saturday mail delivery and prompt three-day-a-week delivery within 15 years, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe warns, says USA Today.

  • Donahoe's forecast is based on a projected $8.3 billion loss this year as the drift from paper to electronic communication hammers the Postal Service.
  • "On Sept. 30," he told USA Today, "I won't be able to pay my bills."
  • Chief among them: a $5.5 billion payment due Sept. 30 to cover future retirees' health benefits.
  • Mail carriers have been making rounds six days a week since the 19th century.
  • After postmasters started talking about cutting back, Congress mandated the six-day delivery in 1983.
  • The Postal Service estimates stopping Saturday mail delivery would save $3.1 billion a year.

Asked about the long term, Donahoe said, "At some point, we'll have to move to three" days a week of mail delivery, possibly in 15 years.

Source: Carly Mallenbaum, "Postmaster Says Days Are Numbered for Saturday Mail Delivery," USA Today, July 20, 2011.

For text:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-07-19-postmaster--mail-delivery_n.htm?csp=34

 

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