Big changes could soon be coming to the U.S. Postal Service. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe announcing Wednesday that it will end Saturday mail delivery, to combat the postal services debt. The plan is projected to save the company $2 billion dollars. It should start to take effect August 5th.
The Postal Service will continue to deliver packages, priority and express mail six days a week. Mail will still be delivered to post office boxes on Saturdays. Post offices currently open on Saturdays will remain open on Saturdays. “America’s mailing habits are changing and so are their shipping habits,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahue. “What we’re announcing is not very complicated . Package delivery will continue monday through Saturday . There will be no changes in terms of post office hours. If we’re open Saturday, we’ll be open Saturday. We’ll continue to deliver mail to post office boxes on Saturday which is very important to a number of businesses. Mail delivery will occur Monday through Friday and we will not deliver nor collect mail on Saturday.”
The Postal Service still needs Congress to approve the move. But the agency thinks it has a majority of the American public on its side regarding the change. Patrick Donahoe, Postmaster General , says research has indicated that nearly 7 in 10 Americans support the switch to five-day delivery as a way for the Postal Service to reduce costs. “Is this legal? Yes, it is. It is our opinion that the way that the law is set right now with the continuing resolution that we can make this change. The good news is that the continuing resolution that governs the Postal Service that way expires on the 27th of March so there’s plenty of time in there that if there is some disagreement we can get that resolved and encourage Congress to take any language out that stops us from moving to this five day mail schedule,” said Donahoe.
Some local business owners fear the change could slow down service they say is already lagging. “We’ve already seen the some of the service deteriorating here. Deliveries are not being made on a timely basis and pickups,” said Mervin Regener, owner of Postal Connections.