Mail Delivery Days May Need To Be Cut

[HARDCORE]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090128/...wn_post_office

Postmaster General: Mail days may need to be cut

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer 36 mins ago

WASHINGTON – 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," 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.

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On the Net:

U.S. Postal Service: http://www.usps.com

[phuloi]

I recieve all my meds via USPS. That ONE day will likely be the ONE day that`ll kill me

[reconeil]

Maybe our wise & all knowing U.S. Taxpayer Money Managers (actually cavalier mis-managers)
and/or pretty-much either Blind or Corrupt Financial & Economy Watch Dogs should use some
of The TRILLION$ available to bail-out The Postal Service,...ALSO?

Cutting some Foreign Aid, and especially to MANY countries actually despising & hating
America,...couldn't hurt either. There alone would be MANY BILLION$ could quite easily
be tapped-into. Don't you think?

If only chump-change MILLION$ needed, Obama's Friday Gift of 460 Million Dollars or about
A Half Billion to some country in Africa for Birth Control,...could be MUCH MORE SENSIBLY,
WISELY & AMERICA helpfully diverted to The U.S. Postal Service, INSTEAD?

Besides, can't people in the diamond & oil rich Continent of Africa...afford their own rubbers?

Hey, Rick. Just some helpful thoughts before sending in my contribution to ACORN,........
whom also are on that truly cockamamie bail-out list.
Boy,...our normally: "Bad Case of The Stupids" has turned into A Terminal Case of The Stupids.

Neil

[QM3steve]

So if they cut delivery days on enough routes, our postage prices should go down... right? Not rain, not sleet, not snow, nor the bite of a dog can stop the mail from going through... HA! 'Cept the government.

[STYCK]

Friend of mine...and a Vet...works for the POST OFFICE...he had to take 2 days off for some med tests...now he has like 14brazillion days vacation on the books....takes 2 ...then gets his butt chewed for causin someone else to finish is route....WTH....

[QM3steve]

Here we go... postal riots.

[1CAVCCO15MED]

We already have very efficient carriers of packages. The only reason they don't carry letters is a law was passed to protect the business of the Postal Service. I especially resent my taxes going to subsidize the mailing to me of all those credit card applications I will never fill out. The Postal Service has just evolved into another form of government pork to the junk mail industry. Get rid of it.

To go from my house to Johnson City Tennessee 16 miles away I pass the Chucky, Limestone and Jonesborough Post Offices. Oh, I forgot, Afton is just down the road the other way.

[exlrrp]

Originally Posted by 1CAVCCO15MED

We already have very efficient carriers of packages. The only reason they don't carry letters is a law was passed to protect the business of the Postal Service. I especially resent my taxes going to subsidize the mailing to me of all those credit card applications I will never fill out. The Postal Service has just evolved into another form of government pork to the junk mail industry. Get rid of it.

To go from my house to Johnson City Tennessee 16 miles away I pass the Chucky, Limestone and Jonesborough Post Offices. Oh, I forgot, Afton is just down the road the other way.

Fred
Its still $.41 to send a letter from one side of the country to another.
Its the best deal you can still get from the government if youre not a wealthy bank CEO whose bailout money pays his bonus.
Yr point on cc apps is well taken tho
Stay good
James

[1CAVCCO15MED]

The Postal Service is a big hole to throw tax money in in a big part because the taxes are subsidizing junk mail. This is pork in the billions of dollars. I believe in the free enterprise system which means you pay for your own businesses advertising without sucking on "Aunt" Uncle Sam's teat.

[revwardoc]

I worked rural routes for the USPS for a little over a year. Gawd, did that job suck! Because I was an "rural route associate" I wasn't elegible for any benefits and had to take over other routes when the regular carriers weren't available. Between lousy weather, nasty dogs, irate customers, and USPS politics I had enough after 14 months. I usually give my carrier a $20 tip every Christmas thinking that anyone who puts up with that crap for so long deserves a bonus...or a straightjacket!