US Postal Service Closer To Eliminating Saturday Delivery

The Washington Post reports that US Postmaster General John E. Potter is expected to announce big changes based on $4.8 million worth of studies on how to turn the US Postal Service around.

In an effort to offset some of the losses, Potter seeks more flexibility in the coming year to set delivery schedules, prices and labor costs. The changes could mean an end to Saturday deliveries, longer delivery times for letters and packages, higher postage-stamp prices that exceed the rate of inflation, and the potential for future layoffs.

"At the end of the day, I'm convinced that if we make the changes that are necessary, we can continue to provide universal service for Americans for decades to come," Potter said Monday. "We can turn back from the red to the black, but there are some significant changes we need to make."

Comments

[Brit]

This idea upset me more back a few years ago when I didn't have a Roku and Netflix's streaming selection was terribad. Now I'm ok with it.

[Seth]

$4.8 million worth of studies on how to lose less money.

Gotta love the post office.

[Keith]

Pay me $100 and I'll send you a book about how to save money on all the everyday purchases you make too. It seems like these studies are just like a government agency selling snake oil, or a get-rich-quick scheme from an infomercial.

[K]

Let's hope the USPS adds "we will never EVER again sponsor" sporting teams/events (e.g. cycling, NASCAR) and running commercials as "notes to self" for ways to save money....

[Tino]

1. break the union
2. privatize as many of the processes as possible
3. profit!

[Sam]

If they open up usps.com to allow first class postage to be printed, they would save so much money right there. The post offices would be less crowded, since someone could do all of this from their house. Right now the only way to do this is by using paypal or a paid service like stamps.com

[Steve]

How about just make stamps cost a reasonable amount?
Shipping too. The USPS charges too little.

[Larry]

All gov't offices should be forced to use US Mail for all shipping. No FedEx or UPS.

[Andrew Weit]

@Tino: Unions are, more times than not, the little guy's only protection. That's not always the case, but it is a majority of the time. I'm pro-Union all the way.

Also, You already have private options; UPS and FedEx. What's happening with the USPS has nothing to do with unions. People send letters more and more over the internet and less snail mail is being used (therefor less stamps are being purchased.) Also, online bill pay eliminates a lot of the bulk of the mail.

Case and point: I was in a post office for the first time in years and years and that was only to get my passport photos taken and paperwork signed and sent off.

[the dude]

Seriously, Andrew? Look at all corporations that are struggling and I will show you a union paying way too much for basic unskilled labor and or course PENSION LIABILITY. Until that is resolved, the airlines, autos, USPS, railroad,etc.....will continue to lose market share to the companies who can do it cheaper.

[JJH2]

Unions in the public sector are a whole different ball of wax than unions in the private sector. In the private sector, union demands are met by management pushback and the need to keep a firm profitable. In the public sector, government agencies can run continuous deficits (like the USPS has run for several years now) with little to no management pushback, and rely on tax dollars instead of profitability to make up the difference.

Also, UPS and FedEx are not true alternatives to the Post Office because of the federal statutory postal monopoly. UPS and FedEx are by statute only allowed to deal in "urgent" letters and packages. The vast majority of mail is non-urgent, and you can't use FedEx or UPS to deliver this kind of mail without paying "urgent" rates.

[Jerry]

1. break the union

Amazing how the first thing you people want to do is shaft the worker. The guy who ran Wachovia bank into the ground walked away with millions while thousands of the workers are being let go without any golden parachute. Worse is employees who put their retirement in Wachovia stock because they thought they worked for a great company. We need more workers to lose their retirement benefits so that a CEO can have a gold plated toilet in his office.

Unions built this country. Union busters cheapened it. Of course as soon as you bust a union, you can start hiring Mexicans or just sending the work to China.

2. privatize as many of the processes as possible

Another excuse to send work to India? bet they can sort mail cheaper over there.

3. profit!
Not everything that keeps American society in a communication loop needs to turn a profit.

And if a private company takes over the post office, your stamps will cost even more for a first class letter. Your netflix rental rate will go up accordingly.

You want to help out the post office - write your mother a letter.

[JohnnyBob]

Keep 6 day delivery, please, not just for Netflix!

[Paul]

If I lose Saturday delivery, I will cancel Netflix. The streaming quality is low and the streaming selection is limited. I only signed up so that I could receive real DVDs. Without Saturday delivery I won't get enough movies.

[Edward R Murrow]

Am I reading this right from the various web pages:

UPS charges for delivering a letter in 2 days is $23.

FedEx charges for delivering a letter in 2 days is $25.

Post office charges for delivering a letter in 2 days is .44 cents

How is it possible for a 'socialized' government program to beat the private sector by several orders of magnitude?

Perhaps we can bust all unions, rollback child labor laws and impose slavery on the unemployed?

[kb01]

It would be annoying but stopping Saturday delivery really wouldn't make much of a difference.

However, they would have to drastically cut back on the number of federal holidays that they don't deliver on. It seems like every month has at least one or two federal/bank holidays.

With no Saturday deliveries, this would result in a lot of weeks with only 4 days of mail.

[Jian]

Postmaster General can always get a job at Netflix.

[Rob Molecule]

Ed, the reason the post office is so much cheaper for a 2-day letter was already mentioned above. The USPS has a legal monopoly which does not allow a competitor to deliver regular mail. UPS and FedEx are legally not allowed to charge a low rate for delivering a letter.

[John]

I am with Netflix because of Blu-Ray. Sorry, but streaming video does not even reach standard def, much less hi-def. As it stands on a six day delivery schedule, I can get two movies a week (watching movie day 1, returning day 2, netflix shipping day 3). Cutting out Saturday delivery means I get fewer movies each month and I doubt Netflix will lower my rate because of the USPS.

[Edward R Murrow]

And while we're on the government topic - I can't take anymore of these god damn 'socialist' government programs like public libraries! Can we please close these bastions of Communism that have infiltrated every community and burn the f'ing books in the street?

[Marian]

@K: thumb up
@Tino: worst solutions. Let me guess, you're a teabagger.

[Mark]

John, the streaming quality optimizes to match your internet connection speed. While viewing at home, I get great image quality (even some HD for those movies that offer it). While on a hotel's connection on a work trip? It scales down to that bogged-down network and I get low-res movies that look very pixelated in the darker areas of the image.

I'm with those worried a bit over the USPS schedule adjustment. I am signed up for only one movie out at a time, and although the turnaround time is astounding, I don't want to lose the ability to watch Friday night and then pop it in the mail Saturday morning.

[loiue]

WTF?
just DO it already and shut the f****** doors. im sick and tired of hearing how close we are to getting cheated out of 1 days netflix rentals..dam....

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