The U.S. Postal Service has announced that “massive deficits” may force it to reduce mail delivery service from six-days a week to five in the near future. Our only question is why wasn”t this done years ago. It might have helped keep the cost of stamps down.
One of the reasons is that six-day mail service is a Congressional mandate. The 1983 appropriation bill made it a law. Congress will have to act to remove the requirement before the Postal Service can implement the change. Postmaster General John Potter has said, “It is possible that the cost of six-day delivery may simply prove to be unaffordable.” He has asked for the six-day delivery requirement be eliminated.
There are at least two ways to look at this situation. One is that it is 2009, why don”t we have 7-day a week mail service? The other is, it”s 2009, not only can we not afford seven-day service, but, we can”t afford six-day service and there is really no need for more than five-day per week mail delivery. Americans have long been spoiled with the Saturday service.
While there may be a large number of businesses that operate seven days per week, we would be willing to bet that most of the business offices are closed and the business office personnel off duty over the weekend. Because of this, it really isn”t necessary for businesses to have Saturday mail. Since the bulk of mail delivered by the Postal Service these days is made up of bills and junk mail, the general public can certainly wait and receive it on Monday.
There is no question that dropping one day of mail service per week would save the Postal Service millions of dollars per year primarily due to reduced labor and fuel costs. It would also have a positive impact on the environment. Just think of how many Postal Service vehicles are in operation on a single day of mail delivery across this entire country. If they were all idled one day per week, there would be a massive exhaust emission reduction.
As far as we are concerned the reduction to five-day mail delivery should be accomplished as soon as possible. And, Saturday is the most appropriate day of service to drop.
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