By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 28 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," 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 ..................................................http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....bGsDcG9zdG1hc3Rlcmdl
This notice of mail not being delivered has been sent to you via e-mail to make sure that the delivery person didn't have to do any work to get it to you.
The U.S. Postal Service is hemorrhaging red ink, but rather than raise rates to close the gap, it is talking about cutting out delivery one day a week. The situation is bad, but reducing service should only be pursued as a last resort. While the postmaster general didn’t actually propose eliminating service yet, he did ask Congress Wednesday to change a law so he’d have the fl exibility to do so. The law, part of an appropriation bill 26 years ago, requires delivery six days a week. During the recession in 2001, a proposal to eliminate Saturday deliveries surfaced, was universally panned and quickly abandoned. That, of course, would have meant two consecutive days without mail — which would have been especially tough on people who rely on deliveries for medicine, money or even their daily newspaper. Now, the postmaster general suggests the day that would be eliminated wouldn’t be a Saturday, but some mid-week day — such as Tuesday — with relatively light volume. That’s more tolerable, but only slightly. The postal service lost $2.8 billion last year, 14 times greater than its loss in 2000, which prompted the proposal to end Saturday service. This year, the loss could exceed $6 billion; after the big drop in fuel prices since late summer, that would be especially painful. While more and more postal customers continue to switch to the Internet for communications and bill-paying, the recession has clearly affected business as well. It won’t last forever, and the postal service’s losses should ease when it does. So a disruptive action like cutting service doesn’t seem to be in order yet. In the meantime, a rate increase of a penny or two might help balance the books until the fog lifts. Longer-term, the postal service seems.......................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar04403
What you're not seeing in there but was reported on the news last night - the PO isn't actually cutting any JOBS, they're just eliminating services to the house (branches may still be open).
Logged
