Postal Service Vs. Congress: Saturday Service


The U.S. Postal Service made an announcement that’s bound to get Congress’s attention: they will stop delivering mail on Saturdays beginning August 1st of this year. The decision, which research suggests 7 of 10 Americans support, comes as an effort to help the government agency cope with increasing financial stress and competition.

Congress has tried to reorganize USPS in the past, but politics have continually derailed the efforts. Now the agency is forcing Congress’s hand in dealing with the financial woes. Last year they lost about $16 billion, about triple the losses of the year before.

“The Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and responds to the financial realities resulting from America’s changing mailing habits,” said Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe. “We developed this approach by working with our customers to understand their delivery needs and by identifying creative ways to generate significant cost savings.”

While USPS says it has the final authority to make such decisions, some in Congress have expressed the opinion that lawmakers do. While the Saturday cuts would mean regular mail would not go out, USPS says packages would still be delivered. They expect to save about $2 billion per year, which would take a significant chunk off of their yearly losses.

But more will have to be done to address the remaining losses—still billions of dollars. With the rise in the popularity of electronic media and sharing and of competitors like FedEx, USPS has lost its monopoly on the market. This proposal is not a new one, but it has been prevented in previous years.

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