In late March, the USPS Board of Governors approved the USPS management proposal to drop Saturday mail delivery and to file a request for an advisory opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). The request was filed on March 30, 2010.
The USPS management proposal does not eliminate all services on Saturday. For example, retail window hours at post offices, delivery to P.O. boxes, incoming mail processing and transportation of mail between plants and network distribution centers (NDCs), and collection and processing of Express Mail would continue. What will be eliminated is collection of mail from blue boxes, delivery to street addresses, and Saturday processing of originating mail.
The postal service estimates that eliminating collection and delivery of mail on Saturdays initially will save over $3 billion annually, even after taking into consideration mail volume that will be lost because of no Saturday collection and delivery. By 2020, savings are projected to be about $5 billion annually. The savings come mainly from lower personnel costs.
To reinforce its proposal, the USPS commissioned several surveys of the public. These indicate that about two-thirds of average postal customers would accept five-day delivery if it meant avoiding postage rate increases and enabled the USPS to return to financial stability. Predictably, the postal labor unions are strongly opposed to the reduction in service.
While the PRC’s advisory opinion is important, the final decision will be made by Congress. Annually Congress makes an appropriation to the USPS and in past years the appropriation bill has included language mandating 6-day delivery. There are some legislators, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois who are opposed to eliminating Saturday delivery because they see Saturday delivery as a competitive advantage of the USPS.
The USPS hopes to implement 5-day delivery in FY2011, but to do so will have to overcome objections by the postal unions, Congress, and some parts of the mailing industry.
