I’ve received a lot of feedback today on one of this week’s front-page stories, about the U.S. Postal Service’s dire financial condition. Most commenters seem in favor of ending Saturday delivery, which experts say could happen in the next few years.
A rural letter carrier who works six days a week wrote:
It’s time to bite the bullet and change the old ways of 6-day delivery. I know that 4-10 hour days can never happen, but I would like maybe 5-8 hour day weeks. Having no family time by working 6 days is not fun.
Another commenter suggested even more drastic measures:
The USPS needs to quit Saturday delivery. Major savings with man hours, fuel, electricity etc. They also need to sell all excess real estate all over the US. They should also close all the small Post Offices nation wide that are losing money daily. This alone would save millions of dollars.
This is another possibility; experts want Postal Service management to close facilities across the country, many of which aren’t operating at full capacity thanks to new technology.
What do you think? Should USPS end Saturday delivery and close underperforming facilities? Are there other ways to bring the Postal Service back to financial health?
24 Comments
Well, it’s worth a try. Stop Saturday delivery for a year or so, and see if the P.O. can get ahead, then they could resume it or discontinue Saturday delivery for good…
I have been a city carrier for 25 years and eliminating Saturday delivery would save a bundle of money. There would be jobs lost such as T-6 carriers would be gone, save money on gas, electricity, overtime, etc. Most people don’t care if they get mail on Saturday, alot of times it stays in their mailbox till Monday. The Postal Service can control the mail flow so that it would even out through out the week. Be nice to have a 2 day weekends.
This is a horrible idea. I live in a small town where we do not have delivery service. Everyone in my town has to go the post office and pick up their mail. Our local post office has limited hours, M-F 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM and (closed from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM for lunch), Saturday 8:00 AM until 12:30 PM. There are no additional lobby hours. We are only able to access our mail on Saturday’s. If Saturday service was eliminated, citizens of small towns would not be able to get their mail, unless post offices were combined, and mail delivery was expanded to all houses unless restricting them to post office boxes only.
5 day delivery sounds good on the surface…but it does not do anything for the situation…anyone who works behind the scenes knows that the facilities have no room to store an extra days worth of mail and it will only cost MORE to run the extra trips that will be required to get the mail to the AO’s on time since they have no space to store it either. Just because the mail would not be delivered does not mean it does not exist…it will still be there, just lost in storage and delayed even longer than it is now.
Saturday delivery should be elimated to save routes. The USPS is looking to cut one out of every six routes because of the decreased mail volume. That would elimate carriers and t-6’s. It would also add about 20% more deliveries to each route that remained. The volume could be spread out more evenly over five days instead of rushing everything out and treating bulk mail like it’s 1st or 2nd class. I’d rather keep my route as is than get addition which amounts to a pay cut….. more work same pay. But don’t count on the NALC to do anything but protect themselves.
Getting rid of Saturday delivery is a start, but let’s face it, the powers that be have been running the Postal Service to the ground on purpose, this can’t be fixed, because it won’t be fixed. Such is life … find another line of work. because in a few years there won’t be a Postale Service.
Getting rid of Saturday delivery would be a wrong step in the wrong direction. Look at all these P.O.s in small towns that should have home delivery. Maintaining a building, Payroll benefits and short hours to get to their PO boxes. Have you forgotten it is the Postal Service and not business. Don’t cut customer service lets cut more non productive management.
The Post Office needs Saturday delivery. Its what sets us apart from other delivery businesses.
Where the most money could be saved is within management. Function 4 teams ride all over this great nation, spending money on gas, hotels, per diems. The amount of money for these people to do this every week for years is beyond figures. On top of all this theres usually has to be someone captianing these PM’s offices. At which point these OIC’s get higher level pay. The amount of money the PO shells out for these types of “jobs” should be non-existant. Every PM that wants too keep his/her office should go back there and take care of it. The Post Office needs to quit creating these phony jobs for people who basically dont want to work.
What in the world did we establish express & priority mail for? Bring in a clerk or 2 for 4 hours and bring in a skeleton crew of carriers for 4 hours Saturdays and deliver only Express & priorities. Our presence is still out there and costs are minimal. DUH!
I AM A CLERK IN A RURAL OFFICE. I AGREE WITH A FORMER POSTER THAT IF WE ARE TO CONTINUE TO PRESENT PRIORITY AND EXPRESS AS VIABLE OPTIONS THAT THE POST OFFICE SHOULD REMAIN OPEN ON SATURDAY.
THIS PRESENTS A DOUBLE EDGED SWORD.. IF WE ARE TO MAINTAIN DELIVERY TO ALL THAT EXPECT AND PAY FOR IT WE CAN NOT SIDESTEP OUR FISCAL REPONSIBILITY TO THE PEOPLE WE SERVE.
PEOPLE ALSO GET NEWSPAPERS VIA THE POST OFFICE…THE FIRST COMPLAINT WE GET ON A SATURDAY IF THE MAIL IS NOT COMPLETE.. IS ” WHERE IS MY NEWSPAPER?’ OTHER CUSTOMERS SAY ITS BASICALLY ALL THEY WANT TO SEE..
A VERY HARD QUESTION AT BEST.. IF WE ARE TO CONDUCT A SERVICE RELATED BUSINESS … I.E. USPS AND MAKE NO MISTAKE THATS EXACTLY WHAT WE ARE, WE CANNOT OR SHOULD NOT CUTOFF OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO THE CUSTOMER OR WE MORE THAN LIKELY WILL BE VIEWED AS NOT ONLY DISFUNCTIONAL, BUT UNTRUSTWORTHY.
IN SHORT; THERE IS NO EASY WAY TO CALL THIS. AS TO USPS AND ITS FUTURE THE BEST PLACE TO START IS WITH BASICS… I.E. WHAT IS OUR HIGHEST COST PER RATIO THAT CAN BE ELIMINATED WITHOUT SHUTTING DOWN OUR BUSINESS. IN OTHER WORDS, ALL THINGS THAT ARE NOT TRULY NECESSARY.
I’M NOT AN AUDITOR OR A LAWYER …BUT I FEEL THAT SOMEWHERE INSIDE USPS THE ANSWER CAN BE FOUND.
THANKS FOR LETTING ME COMMENT.
J. VANDEMARK
we need 5 day delivery get rid of the dead wieght t-6’s i dont care if they lose jobs as long as i keep mine
I am a t-6, have been for about 7 years. Been with the P.O. almost 12. It will be nice to actually have time to do things with my child on Saturdays now. Although she is now graduating and it’s coming a little to late. Where you get that a T-6 is dead weight I will never know. I have done more work on my routes and covered more Reg. carrier butts than I care to mention. N/m that though, the truth is, t-6 will lose that position, but not their job. Carl…Grow up and get informed…..
I can’t believe what I’m reading. How can 5 days work? Yes, it sounds good to the city people. But what about rural America? Yes, the Postal Service does loose money in the rural area, but those people have the right to daily mail delivery also. The Post Service is mandated to deliver to EVERYBODY in the United Stated, it can’t just pick the cream of the crop.
Well some people work 24/7 over in Afghanistan and don’t get mail barely due to it being ransacked by their Chain of Command, stolen etc. and aren’t allowed an inbox/outbox to receive letters. They barely come because thanks to the Army, everything is ass backwards and the post office has the nerve to complain about not seeing family?!
God forbid you work a full week.
How about be thankful you get to come home and be with your family every single day of your lives while the soldiers don’t get ANY TIME because they are stuck over there. and oh yeah cancel Saturday delivery and mess up their mail even more.
Life is so peachy and carefree here in the states.
It just doesn’t matter to USPS.
Of course Saturday mail delivery is convienent but to save
much needed money, I think it is a good idea to discontinue Saturday mail deliveries. At first it would be difficult but with time everyone would get use to it and adjust. Some sacrifices have to be made. This seem to be one of the least painful ways
I would like to see the PO find inefficiencies to cut out OTHER THAN Saturday delivery and closing any of our local post offices. Our post offices are very busy and lines are sometimes out the door. We had one PO that was open until 9:00 pm at the mall and that place was swarming after 5:00 pm. Then they cut back to 6:00 pm but are still very busy with the after-work crowd. Wish we could still go to the PO on Saturdays, but at least we can still get mail pick-up for now.
i am a rural carrier in az and every year they have a count that ends up screwing the carrier and taking money from us.we need sat delivery because of this.they need to cut???well cut the big shots up top and work downward and not work from the bottom up!!!!!!!!!!they would save a lot of money cutting from the top.those dolars from the bottom are only a few thousands here and there.where from the top could be millions!!!!!!
I’m glad no one has used the argument for retaining saturday mail delivery: WHAT ABOUT THE POSTAL PATRONS (A.K.A. CUSTOMERS) WHO MAY NEED THEIR DRUG PERSCRIPTIONS ON SATURDAY VERSUS MONDAY. No, they won’t have to pay Express mail premium rates nor are they left out in the cold. Furthermore, they do not have to pay premium shipping rates from the various other private carriers. The sole exception is Fed-Ex Ground, you know the beige truck with black & green logo lettering. This is a different enity from the original Fed-Ex delivery company; you can ID them by their red, white, and blue color scheme on their trucks. The original Fed-Ex carrier only delivers from mondays thru fridays, and Fed-Ex Ground only delivers tuesdays thru saturdays. Furthermore, because they are separate enities; Fed-Ex Ground pays their drivers about 1/2 of what the other drivers earn! Although, eliminating Postal saturdays would mean a loss of the Rx delivery revenue, the revenue loss does not justify the delivery expense. So don’t feel bad for people who get their meds via the USPS on saturdays currently. Eliminating saturday mail delivery is something that needs to be looked into further.
Regarding T-6 positions…
If the USPS goes to a five day delivery work week schedule, thereby eliminating saturday deliveries, there would no longer be a need for a city carrier whose job assignment is rotating on 5 different & specfic city routes. Those affected city carriers would become ‘Unassigned Regulars’ in the office that they currently work. Their pay would be reduced to the same level as all city carriers nationwide. They would be guaranted 40 hours per week. PTF’s hours would most likely be reduced as a result. If their aren’t enough hours to guarantee 40 hrs of work for each unassigned regular, the excess city carriers would be offered a 40 hr unassigned city carrier position in another post office. There is a limit mileage radius for these reassignment positions (I think it is within 100 miles). Furthermore, if any PTF hours were reduced to a level he or she could not live with, they could apply for a transfer to any post of their choosing.
My source of reference is something I read online; I think it was a Congressional website. It outlined all the possible rules & and procedures for Postal situations. I am a former rural carrier associate (RCA), that switched over to the city carrier craft. I was a shop steward, but now I’m retired from a job that I hired into just two months after I graduated from high school (Aug. 1967). I quit after 2.5 years as a distribution clerk, and as a LSM operator (Letter Sorting Machine – Level 6). I finished college with a degree in psycholgy, and had good success in the private sector; but, realized that the Federal Government has the best benefits. I got back into the Postal Service, and ended my working life where I started out. No regrets.
Regarding RCA & RCR positions…
That’s a Rural Carrier Associate & Rural Carrier Relief carriers, or sometimes referred to as ‘Country Carriers’. Eliminating saturday mail delivery will affect them far more than city carriers. Today, they are only guaranteed one day a week of work; for most of them it occurs on saturdays. It’s up to the regular rural carrier of the primary route they are assigned if any other day of a week is their workday. No matter how you cut it, any work beyond 8 hrs comes from annual leave, sick leave, adminstration leave, etc a regular rural carrier might choose to take. Just be thankful you’re a CITY CARRIER & have the NALC union!
I’m all for 5 day week.
Would like to see postal office open for walk up service
on saturdays open
I am a Postal employee and have been for 25 years – there are a lot of places we could save money but stopping Saturday delivery is not the best one. There are so many “programs” going on that waste thousands of dollars every day and even congress doesn’t seem to notice. It’s not about deivering mail anymore – it’s about chasing numbers. why not look at discontinuing EXFC and Mystery shop until we are financially secure again? Our primary focus should be getting the mail delivered as quickly and safely as possible – but that is often not the case. We have managers managing managers…we are top heavy. We need to get back to what we were created for – deliver the mail. Programs and flat rate boxes cannot fix what’s wrong – put the people making these recommendations on the street and make them deliver a rural route or work the window in a rural post office that has no clerk because the hours have been given to a postal manager for a secretary. If the managers were truly interested in “growing the business” they would use the resources where they would do the most good – giving our communities the best service we can – then the revenue would take care of itself!
USPS should close on a saturday I been there for 14years as a sub.,aux.,and RCA and Im still working on saturday they have subs in our office got every other saturday off Im the only carrier in our office works every saturday when I was a sub I worked every saturday and here is the subs in our office got every other saturday whats that saying The clerks should continue to go on saturday morning like they been doing do passports and delivered express they are working by two if they need help get a sub to go easy.I miss a lot of my sons games and coaching on saturday he was 7 when I start now hes 21 a man and now coaching little ones Im all for the closure all other businesss is close why not us.
As a letter carrier for 31 years, I think that losing Saturday delivery would be a terrible fiscal mistake, allowing our competitors a leg up against us and hastening the end of the Postal Service. I would rather see us expand our services to include pick up and delivery of priority an d signature mail on Sundays, since so many businesses nationwide are now open seven days a week. This would give us an advantage instead of giving up ground.
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