Mail Delivery to be Discontinued on Saturdays

Calling the six-days-per-week mail delivery business model “no longer sustainable,” the U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday it will eliminate Saturday delivery of mail by Aug. 1.

The plan to change delivery from six days a week to five would only affect first-class mail. Packages, mail-order medicines, priority and express mail would still be delivered on Saturdays, and local post offices will remain open for business Saturdays.

According to the U.S. Postal Service, the reasons are continued economic struggles and the increasing use of the Internet for communications and bill paying by consumers. The U.S. Postal Service is also the only federal agency required to pre-fund health benefits for retirees, and those costs are escalating quickly:

“Our current business model of delivering mail six days a week is no longer sustainable. We must change in order to remain an integral part of the American community for decades to come.”

Saturday is the lightest mail delivery day by volume and many businesses are closed on Saturdays, according to the U.S. Postal Service. However, many residents receive print magazines and ads on Saturdays in the mail that may be shifted to another day.

Resident Steven Ginsburg said on the Bridgewater Patch Facebook page that he would actually choose a different method.

“They should go to four times a week, raise the price, decrease staff and become budget neutral,” he said, “and the rest of Washington should follow suit.”

Many residents said they are concerned about not receiving paychecks coming on Saturdays, and are not sure this change will be good for small businesses that still rely on snail mail.

Resident Katherine Gilman said she would actually prefer to see mail stop on Mondays.

“They should keep Saturdays since more people are likely to be home,” she said, “and stop Mondays since so many holidays on Mondays stop the mail anyway.”

How will this change affect you? Will you miss getting mail on Saturdays? Tell us what you think in the box below.