U.S. Postal Service to End Saturday Mail Service

The U.S. Postal Service will end Saturday mail service beginning as soon as August in an attempt to cut financial losses, according to Bloomberg.

USPS lost $15.9 billion last year, and believes that it could save up to $2 billion by eliminating Saturday deliveries.  Six-day deliveries of packages would continue.

“There is simply no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery,” a U.S. Postal Service Spokesman told The Washington Post.

Congressional approval is needed to end Saturday deliveries. Hallmark Cards, Inc. has hired lobbyists to urge Congress to vote against the measure, citing negatives effects that this decision could have on the company and its employees, according to the Huffington Post.

Due to high employee pension costs, paired with a decline in mail volume, this is part of the Postal Service's five-year plan to save $20 billion.

Saturday is the lightest mail delivery day by volume and many businesses are closed on Saturdays, according to the U.S. Postal Service. However, many residents receive print magazines and ads on Saturdays in the mail that may be shifted to another day.

A Rasmussen poll on mail delivery in 2012 showed “Three-out-of-four Americans (75%) would prefer the U.S. Postal Service cut mail delivery to five days a week rather than receive government subsidies to cover ongoing losses.”

A USA Today/Gallup poll in 2010 found the majority of U.S. residents surveyed were ok with eliminating Saturday delivery. The March 2010 telephone survey of 999 adults revealed people age 55 and older were more likely than younger people to have used the mail to pay a bill or send a letter in the past two weeks.

Will the loss of Satuday mail delivery affect you? Do you think it's worth the savings?