Worsening economic conditions and the changing habits of Americans are threatening to force the USPS to cut back from six days to five days per week of delivery.
Postmaster General John E. Potter said the post office may be forced to cut back to five-day delivery for the first time ever. He cited rising costs and a continuing decline in mail that has been made worse by the global recession. This move would have to be approved by Congress and postal officials and could mean the elimination of mail on either Saturdays or Tuesdays. These are the system’s slowest mail days.
“It is possible that the cost of six-day delivery may simply prove to be unaffordable,” Potter said. He added that the agency may face a deficit of more than $6 billion in the current fiscal year. “I do not make this request lightly, but I am forced to consider every option, given the severity of our challenge.”
A shortened delivery week is the latest setback for the post office, which was founded in 1775 with Benjamin Franklin serving as the first postmaster general. The post office is one of the nation’s largest employers with about 700,000 career employees.
The post office has struggled for years with shifting cultural and economic challenges and has struggled to modernize its operations. Companies like FedEx have taken over a lot of the upper-end delivery market. Additionally, e-mail and online bill-paying services have decreased first-class mail volume.
The number of items the post office delivered last year dropped by more than 9 billion. This is the largest annual decrease in history. The current fiscal year could also be the first time since 1946 that the amount of money collected by the Postal Service declines from the year before, Potter said.
Last year’s deficit of almost $3 billion could more than double this year. Researchers have found that eliminating one day of delivery would save the post office more than $1.9 billion per year.
At the same time, there is fear that cutting back a delivery day could further accelerate declines in mail volume. Other steps like post office closures should also be considered.
There are more hurdles for eliminating a day of mail delivery. The first time that would have to happen is that Congress would have to be persuaded to remove a requirement attached to appropriations bills since 1983 that prevents the postal service from cutting back to five days. After that a reduction would have to be approved by the Postal Service’s board of governors.
The Postal Service may also soon ask for another increase in the cost of a first-class stamp, which is now 42 cents.
Aside from the impact on postal employees, cutting a day could also have a dramatic effect on weekly magazine publishers, direct-mail firms and other businesses that rely on the mail.
Early in its history, the post office delivered mail seven days a week. The switch to six-day service came in 1912 when the agency eliminated Sunday delivery because of objections from Christian groups.
The U.S. mail was once a dominant means of communication but its influence has declined over the years. With the recent decrease in first-class mail the post office is now mostly a broadcast medium relaying advertising from businesses to households.
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