Politics & Government

Saturday U.S. Mail Delivery Stays for Now

Citing Congressional measure, Board of Governors reluctantly decides to continue six-day-a-week delivery, not drop to five-days-a-week.

The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service has reversed course and will no longer move ahead with plans to suspend Saturday mail delivery in August to save money, according to a statement from the board.

The postal service had announced in February the six-days-per-week mail delivery business model was “no longer sustainable” and that it would eliminate Saturday delivery by Aug. 1.

But on Tuesday, the board backpedaled on the decision, citing language in a continuing resolution passed by Congress that prohibited the proposed change.

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“The Board believes that Congress has left it with no choice but to delay this implementation at this time’” a statement released by the board said.

The plan announced in February would have changed delivery from six days a week to five and affected only first-class mail. Packages, mail-order medicines, priority and express mail would still have been delivered on Saturdays, and local post offices would have remained open for business Saturdays.

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The board continues to support a five-day-a-week delivery schedule, the statement continued, citing cost savings of nearly $2 billion for the agency and “the flexibility to reduce costs and generate new revenues to close an ever-widening budgetary gap. It is not possible for the Postal Service to meet significant cost reduction goals without changing its delivery schedule.”

The board continues to look for ways to cut costs, the statement says.

Among the possible cost reductions being explored by the board are reopening negotiations with the postal union to gain new concessions and lower costs and asking for a rate increase, the board statement said. 


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