U.S. Postal Service proposes cutting Saturday delivery over e-mail woes
The United States Postal Service says that e-mail is just taking too big of a bite out of its business to ignore any more, and it is proposing some radical ideas to help cut costs.
The United States Postal Service is going before the U.S. Congress today to discuss its mounting debt. As of Sept. 30, 2009, the Postal Service was $10 billion in debt, not far off from its maximum debt limit of $15 billion. According to AOL News, in the fourth quarter of 2009, always the heaviest volume time period of the year due to the winter holidays, the organization lost $297 million.
According to CNN Money, mail volume dropped 12.7 percent in 2009, and the trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future due to the ever increasing use of e-mail and other online delivery options for things such as bill paying.
Some of the suggestions that will be proposed to stem the losses will include:
- Eliminating Saturday delivery of mail
- Restructuring retiree health benefits
- Close lower traffic post offices
- Add more self-service kiosks in locations such as grocery stores, office supply stores, pharmacies and more
- Update the postal Web site
- Reduce the size of the workforce through attrition
- Increase stamp prices in 2011
The suggestion with the largest impact would be the cutting of Saturday delivery, but this is a suggestion that has been made for decades as a cost cutting measure, and each time it has been turned down every time. Why it should be different this time is unknown, and while it is the measure getting the most attention, it is also the one most likely to fail.
No timeline has been given as to when final decisions will be made on any of these proposals.
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March 2nd, 2010
If it means an improved service, I’m all for eliminating Saturday delivery.
Cutting down on the number of or hours of operation of post offices is something I could live with also. ESPECIALLY if more postal kiosks were available in more places, the kind that let me weigh an item and select it’s physical size and then buy exact postage on a label that prints out for afixing. But if they do deploy more kisoks, they’ve GOT to have pickup service at every kiosk location if they want customers to really embrace using them.
March 2nd, 2010
I really don’t care. The USPS is useless than teats on a boar hog. What will updating their website save them?
And of course, in typical government fashion – raise the rates is always in there. Dummy’s can’t figure out every time they raise rates, we all flee further to FedEx, UPS, local fast delivery carriers and the internet.
Its an old horse that needs to be put out to pasture. How much money would we save in taxes if they just shut the whole thing down? Hmmmm
March 2nd, 2010
Wow, you guys get mail deliveries on a Saturday!
March 3rd, 2010
The USPS is useless – are you crazy? Do you have any idea of how many pieces of mail they move each day and how few errors are made as a % of the total?
You mention FedEx and UPS, but somehow complain that the post office has high rates? That may be the single most ignorant thing I have read in months…really!
Please keep your moronic comments to yourself or at least try to back up those stupid comments with something close to facts. And while you are at it, try to send a an envelope from your home to Seattle using the 3 services mentioned and check out the prices.
March 4th, 2010
@Jolene: “How much money would we save in taxes if they just shut the whole thing down? Hmmmm”
None. The USPS is self-funded by the postage fees it collects.
I don’t really have a problem with dropping Saturday deliveries. It would not only save a ton of labor cost but save gas, extend the service life of their fleet of vehicles, etc. The back-office sorting would not get the day off; they run 24×7, but all of those carriers have to be costing millions each day.
Closing low-traffic branches makes sense as long as they don’t over-consolidate and make it too inconvenient for people to mail parcels or pick up mail from vacation hold.
I’m not sure what a web site revamp would accomplish but if they can shift more services to the web it’s not a bad thing as long as they remember that ‘net access is not conveniently available to everyone.
Attrition is OK until you realize that those who are left have to work harder/longer for no additional comp.
March 27th, 2010
If they need to cut a day, why close on Saturday, the one day that working people can get to the post office? Close on Mondays.
January 24th, 2011
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