This wouldn’t be the first time, but it looks like the US Postal service will be ending Saturday delivery starting in August of this year. It’s expected to save about $2 billion a year, but that’s just a drop in the $16 billion bucket that the organization claimed as loss for 2012.
It would impact 22,500 jobs which the USPS will try to achieve without layoffs. They would rather eliminate overtime, offer buy outs and rely more on the part time workforce. The postal offices that are open on Saturdays will continue to stay open and thePOboxes will still be delivered to. They will also still be delivering packages. The new business hours will only affect letters and other first-class mail.
The key culprit for such a decision is the congressional mandate made in 2006 that declared that it has to pre-fund healthcare benefits for future retirees. The USPS has been borrowing billions of dollars from taxpayers to make up for the shortfalls. Add this to the losses due to technology and the Postal Service has a real problem now that people are paying their bills online and using the web to keep in touch.
There are mixed reviews on taking such a drastic step and has been called into question by some as its legality. Some have said that Congress needs to grant permission to change current laws to take this step. But the USPS Post Master says that he believes that they have good footing with making this decision. Congress and the union could file a lawsuit to prevent it from happening, but neither group has suggested that they’re planning on taking such action even though the union strongly opposes the decision. They have been fighting such a move for years and have deemed Saturday closers a “reckless plan.”
USPS executives cannot save the Postal Service by tearing it apart” said the union in a statement.
Mail delivery has been cut before temporarily in some cities in 1947 and again nationwide in 1957, both times because of budget issues. It was such an unpopular move that the public protested which prompted President Eisenhower to sign a bill fully funding the Post Office department within three days leading to a resumption of Saturday services.
By August 5th I suppose the USPS will have to change it’s slogan to “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds, unless it’s a National holiday, or the weekend.”
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