USPS Considering Dropping One Delivery Day To Save Money

The USPS could lose $6 billion this year, and is considering dropping one day of delivery service.

Faced with dwindling mail volume and rising costs, the post office was $2.8 billion in the red last year. "If current trends continue, we could experience a net loss of $6 billion or more this fiscal year," Postmaster General John E. Potter said in testimony for a Senate Homeland Securityand Governmental Affairs subcommittee.
Total mail volume was 202 billion items last year, over 9 billion less than the year before, the largest single volume drop in history.
And, despite annual rate increases, Potter said 2009 could be the first year since 1946 that the actual amount of money collected by the post office declines.
"It is possible that the cost of six-day delivery may simply prove to be unaffordable," Potter said. "I reluctantly request that Congress remove the annual appropriation bill rider, first added in 1983, that requires the Postal Service to deliver mail six days each week."

The story suggests that a light service day, such as Tuesday, would be cut instead of Saturday to save billions.

Could this be one of the reasons Netflix is testing weekend shipments?

Thanks to Michael, Dave, Del, Micah, BlockbusterVV and everyone else for sending this in.

Comments

[Bill]

Is anyone shocked that the USPS is in the red.I use their online stuff all the time and it is a joke. Like any failing business they think the answer is just raising the price to solve the issue instead of fixing the problem. At least with their online stuff they should take a step back and look at how fedex and ups does it things would run better and smoother. Please USPS get your act in gear before we pay even more money for a failing service.

[scotty321]

Exactly. Agree with the above poster. The USPS is a joke. They don't even have real-time tracking for their OVERNIGHT packages, let alone all the other things missing from their business that you would expect from any modern delivery service.

[Dan]

I avoid the Post Office at all costs because every time I go in there I have to wait in at least a 30 minute wait...If they were to bring the wait times under control I would be shipping more with them. (I am not really joking about the wait time...most of the times that I have been there it has been a 30+ minute wait)

[Matt]

The USPS is in the red because the Postal Reorganzation Act of 2007 required them to prefund retiree health benefits. From 2007 to 2016 they are required (by Congress) to make payments between 5 and 6 BILLION dollars to the fund. What business can suddenly start spending 5 to 6 BILLION dollars above and beyond their normal operating revenue and still survive?

[janes'_kid]

It is probably too late now, but I thought they should be offering ADDITIONAL services rather than cutting them.

McDonalds reported a profit recently. They have been slipping in additional services such as Senior Coffee in recent months.

[Mike]

USPS said that it would be a last resort, and they'll do everything in their power to not cut a day of delivery. Many members of Congress who are in charge of the subcommittee in charge of USPS said that they're unlikely to enact this. So I wouldn't worry too much about losing your mail on Tuesdays.

[PLB]

I worked at the Post Office while I was in college. We gave First Class mail priority over Second Class mail. That meant that we would not sort Second Class mail at all if there was any First Class mail around.

Of course you paid more to get that First Class priority. EXCEPT when Time magazine came in. Time and all other magazines paid bulk mail rates. That meant that they had only paid for the lowest priority. A bulk rate magazine weighed about ten times as much as a First Class letter and you paid about ten times less postage. You would expect such mail to have the lowest priority.

When Time magazine arrived on the floor, the bosses ran around and screamed "Time has come in". All other mail was pushed aside and everyone sorted Time.

Time magazine had the highest priority for the simple reason that the US Congress could mandate that Post Office operate at a loss for favored customers. It's not the lazy postal workers, the stupid management or the primitive equipment that makes the USPO such a joke, it's the US Congress.

[Tony]

I'll never understand the post office hate. I mean, for 42 lousy cents they will actually hand-deliver a letter across the country. That's up to several thousand miles. 42 cents. I can't think of a better deal.

Since I'm only paying 42 cents, I'm not surprised if it occasionally arrives a day or 2 late. I mean, it's 42 cents.

And in my experience, out of thousands of letters, I can only think of a single letter they have managed to lose. (and out of hundreds of Netflix envelopes, none lost)

[MCW]

My 1 Question (Though I agree, the USPS is the most disgusting business out there next to GameStop): Which came first, the NETFLIX announcement or the USPS announcement?

The answer to this could either make me sad or happy. I didn't think about it at first, but now as it sinks in, I really hope Netflix didn't just follow suit when they heard the rumor.

[Gir]

If USPS dropped to delivery on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, how would it affect you really? So you wait an extra day. I'd barely even notice.

[Gran]

I really hope Netflix didn't just follow suit when they heard the rumor.

Follow suit? You do understand that Netflix is talking ADDING another day, not dropping another day right?

[ore]

This is not a big deal. Employees from the post office get decent pay but deal with rude customers and are in one of the only fields where people say "don't go postal!" So, if they do it, that's fine with me.

But that is truly besides the point. I think they would make more money by charging those bulk rate magazines like JC Penny, WalMart just a bit more. Even the credit card companies. They waste time and space with their dumb junk mail. Sure they pay for it in price, but no one uses it and it should just be pitched. It would be nice if the mail you received was real mail like your bills, orders, etc. Not junk!

[MCW]

Follow suit? You do understand that Netflix is talking ADDING another day, not dropping another day right?

What is the point of adding a day if USPS stops shipping on a defined day?

[Trav]

Any day but Tuesday
Gotta have my New Releases

[MattB]

If you are worried and want to help out the USPS, try finding every magazine subscription card you can and drop them in a mailbox without filling them out. It will take some of the cost effectiveness out of sending junk mail for the advertisers, and USPS will collect revenue for sending a light postcard, which ups their volume as well. The real problem here, more than anything else, is that in our modern world we don't need the Postal service to be as large as we used to, and they haven't figured out a way to move to a smaller scale business model, which admittedly is hard. Perhaps rural post offices, which take a lot of fuel for relatively small volumes of mail, should have mail trucked to them less frequently, or maybe rural routes should be delivered less often, just looking at it in a profit vs. overhead way. I don't know, though, if any of those things are possible, I'm no postal expert.

[Jim K]

Wow - what anger. I happen to think the USPS does a pretty darn good job. Really, out of the hundreds of pieces of mail you've ever sent, how many really got lost?

And Monday - Friday would be just fine for me. Life wouldn't end without Saturday delivery.

[Gran]

Perhaps rural post offices, which take a lot of fuel for relatively small volumes of mail, should have mail trucked to them less frequently, or maybe rural routes should be delivered less often, just looking at it in a profit vs. overhead way. I don't know, though, if any of those things are possible, I'm no postal expert.

Wouldn't it take less fuel to mail 50 pieces of mail on one truck to Toad Suck Arkansas than it would to deliver 30million pieces on 500 trucks to Manhattan?

[Rich]

What is the point of adding a day if USPS stops shipping on a defined day?

USPS is not talking about stopping shipping, they are talking about skipping delivery for a day. Home delivery is very labor-intensive, since it can't be automated unlike sorting.

My guess is the first step for USPS would be to skip home delivery one day a week, but large business delivery would still happen and post offices will still be open so people could still send mail via a trip to the post office or mailbox collection.

[Netflix subscriber]

privatizing the USPS was the dumbest thing in the world and designed specifically to kill it off.

[Letters to the Philippines]

Thanks for the heads up.What happen to the USPS?

-Stephanie

[ann]

For people who dont like to stand in line at the post office,you can go to the post office website and print your postage on line and print postage to send out packages. I have been told that you may qualify for a discount depending on how much you send out, and the delivery confirmation is free on priority packages. The post office now has flat rate shipping boxes. You can order them online through the post offices website and your letter carrier will deliver them to your home or business. I dont know what the rates are but whatever fits in the box, and it does not matter what it weighs , it ships to anywhere in the country for a flat rate. After you print your postage and get all your packages ready to go, you just give them to your letter carrier when he comes by your home or business and he will take them to the post office for you. No waiting in line and no leaving home or business!