Postmaster General: 'Six-Day Delivery May Simply Prove to Be Unaffordable'

[austin552]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/28/postmaster-general-day-delivery-simply-prove-unaffordable/

Battered by the global economic meltdown, the postmaster general has asked Congress to cut U.S. mail delivery to five days a week.

AP
Wednesday, January 28, 2009

powered by BaynoteWASHINGTON -- Massive deficits could force the post office to cut out one day of mail delivery, the postmaster general told Congress on Wednesday, in asking lawmakers to lift the requirement that the agency deliver mail six days a week.

If the change happens, that doesn't necessarily mean an end to Saturday mail delivery. Previous post office studies have looked at the possibility of skipping some other day when mail flow is light, such as Tuesday.

Faced with dwindling mail volume and rising costs, the post office was $2.8 billion in the red last year. "If current trends continue, we could experience a net loss of $6 billion or more this fiscal year," Postmaster General John E. Potter said in testimony for a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee.

Total mail volume was 202 billion items last year, over 9 billion less than the year before, the largest single volume drop in history.

And, despite annual rate increases, Potter said 2009 could be the first year since 1946 that the actual amount of money collected by the post office declines.

"It is possible that the cost of six-day delivery may simply prove to be unaffordable," Potter said. "I reluctantly request that Congress remove the annual appropriation bill rider, first added in 1983, that requires the Postal Service to deliver mail six days each week."

"The ability to suspend delivery on the lightest delivery days, for example, could save dollars in both our delivery and our processing and distribution networks. I do not make this request lightly, but I am forced to consider every option given the severity of our challenge," Potter said.

That doesn't mean it would happen right away, he noted, adding that the agency is working to cut costs and any final decision on changing delivery would have to be made by the postal governing board.

If it did become necessary to go to five-day delivery, Potter said, "we would do this by suspending delivery on the lightest volume days."

The Postal Service raised the issue of cutting back on days of service last fall in a study it issued. At that time the agency said the six-day rule should be eliminated, giving the post office, "the flexibility to meet future needs for delivery frequency.

A study done by George Mason University last year for the independent Postal Regulatory Commission estimated that going from six-day to five-day delivery would save the post office more than $1.9 billion annually, while a Postal Service study estimated the saving at $3.5 billion.

The next postal rate increase is scheduled for May, with the amount to be announced next month. Under current rules that would be limited to the amount of the increase in last year's consumer price index, 3.8 percent. That would round to a 2-cent increase in the current 42-cent first class rate.

The agency could request a larger increase because of the special circumstances, but Potter believes that would be counterproductive by causing mail volume to fall even more.

Dan G. Blair, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, noted in his testimony that cutting service could also carry the risk of loss of mail volume. He suggested Congress review both delivery and restrictions it imposed on the closing of small and rural post offices.
The post office's problem is twofold, Potter explained.

"A revolution in the way people communicate has structurally changed the way America uses the mail," with a shift from first-class letters to the Internet for personal communications, billings, payments, statements and business correspondence.

To some extent that was made up for my growth in standard mail -- largely advertising -- but the economic meltdown has resulted in a drop there also.

Potter also asked that Congress ease the requirement that it make advance payments into a fund to cover future health benefits for retirees. Last year the post office was required to put $5.6 billion into the fund.

"We are in uncharted waters," Potter said. "But we do know that mail volume and revenue -- and with them the health of the mail system -- are dependent on the length and depth of the current economic recession."

He proposed easing the retirement pre-funding for eight years, while promising that the agency will cover the premiums for retirement health insurance.

At the same hearing the General Accounting Office agreed that the post office is facing an urgent need for help to preserve its financial strength. But the GAO suggested easing the pre-funding requirement for only two years, with Congress to determine the need for more relief later.

Potter noted that the agency has cut costs by $1 billion per year since 2002, reduced its work force by 120,000, halted construction of new facilities except in emergencies, frozen executive salaries and is in the process of reducing its headquarters work force by 15 percent.

[TGTIW]

I honestly don't think it would be that big of a deal if service was suspended on Tuesdays.

[KFC911]

IMO, suspending service on Tuesday's would present problems for businesses, and Saturdays would be the most logical. Personally, if they cut out service completely, I could probably eliminate one garbage collection day each month .

[austin552]

We won't be getting bills 6 days a week but my Netflix may be delayed.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

The government can spend bajillions of dollars in Iraq, $6,000 for a toilet seat, $150M on a presidential innauguration and hand $700 BILLION to a bunch of Wall Street fat cats with no accountability, yet they can't figure out how to deliver the mail "rain, snow or dead of night" like it's been done since the early 1900s?

Sign of the times.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Does that mean I'll only receive my neighbor's mail 5 days a week now? I don't trust anything of value to the USPS.

[Hugh R]

Another cut in services for the general taxpaying public, so they can increase foodstamps, Section 8 housing, welfare for the non-taxpaying public. Oh wait! this means people might not get their welfare checks in time for Saturday night partying!

[HardDrive]

Frankly, I don't think it matters much. Most of what we receive via USPS could be sent electronicaly (bills), or is simply junk. The vast majority of our purchases arrrive via UPS/FedEx.

[jyl]

What do you even receive by USPS any more?

Bills.
Magazines.
Junk mail.
Parcels via Priority Mail.

None of these are time-urgent to me. I don't really care if I get mail on Saturday,or Tuesday.

[Racerbvd]

My business uses all mediums and I think it sucks to punish those of us to fund losers too stupid & lazy to get jobs

[gprsh924]

We should just get rid of the USPS in general and get a tax break. I despise the post office. Everything I ship/get shipped to me UPS is at my door pretty much within 3 days of being processed from anywhere in the country. The last 3 products that I purchased from retailers who only shipped USPS took between 6-10 days, including one of them that was shipped from about 40 miles away from my home. One had tracking that showed it had arrived in Illinois in 2 days. I was happy, and assumed it would make it the 45 miles out to my house in another few days. Try 2 weeks.

[pwd72s]

I still use mail quite a bit...one old curmudgeon I correspond with refuses to have a computer in his house. One day less service wouldn't bother me much.

However, it's another shining example of Government taking more while delivering less.

I'm sure email has a LOT to do with them having less 1st class mail to deliver.

[Noah930]

I may be wrong, here, but I thought the post office is supposed to be self-supporting. Meaning, they must balance their own books without help from the federal goverment. So expenditures (both extravagances and fiascos) wasted by the federal government (whether it be $6K toilet seats, war in Iraq, foodstamps, whatever you oppose) do not affect the postal budget.

[KFC911]

I dare say that 95% of the crap that shows up in my mailbox is unsolicited stuff that I don't want and gets immediately tossed. I suspect I'm not unique, and wonder how efficient the USPS would be if we eliminated (or increased the price of) that portion?

[austin552]

http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/01/29/youdecide_mail/

[aigel]

They just want bail out / stimulus money. Get everyone excited about missing a day of mail, so they can make a better case.

Don't worry about Netflix - they will be streaming only in a few years. The DVDs were just a way of getting off the ground until the technology was there for Netflix.

George

[the]

I posted about this a year ago - this was inevitable given the direction our country was/is headed in.

[dd74]

Virtually everything the USPS delivers to me can be viewed/read/billed/paid via the Internet. Fed-Ex and UPS, among other delivery companies, can take care of packages.

I increasingly see the USPS as needless these days.

BTW, a couple days ago, our postal carrier told me the USPS has a two-year moratorium on hiring.

So forget about the postman ringing twice; it seems as if he soon won't be ringing at all.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Not to worry. I expect they'll revive the idea of taxing e-mail before too long.

[dd74]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Not to worry. I expect they'll revive the idea of taxing e-mail before too long.

Count on it. And taxing online out-of-state purchases (if they haven't done so already)...