Staff/Blogs

This is going to suck especially if you are a person that has recieved a check in the mail on the weekend. In an effort to cut costs Beginning this August the U.S Postal service will no deliver mail on Saturday unless you are recieving a package Express mail or Priority mail.

From The Week:

The change, "debated ad nauseum for months and months," will save the Postal Service $2 billion a year, says Patrick Rizzo at NBC News. That sounds like a lot, until you realize the USPS posted a record $15.9 billion loss in the last fiscal year, driven by $11.1 billion in pre-funded future retirement costs. "We are currently losing $25 million per day," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe warned in January.

There is a potential hitch to the new plan, Rizzo says: The USPS, while an independent federal agency that receives no tax dollars, is still "subject to congressional control, and congressional foot-dragging." So it's not clear how it will convince Congress to finally sign off on five-day-a-week delivery, or if it has found a workaround.

Among those who don't think this will save the USPS: Hallmark, the greeting card giant that "really wants you to be able to open that birthday card on a Saturday," says Catherine Ho at The Washington Post. Hallmark is putting some serious cash toward lobbying Congress to make sure the change doesn't happen. "Solving budget shortfalls through price increases and reduction of service not only won't work, it will make matters worse," Hallmark CEO Don Hall Jr. once argued. "I am concerned that going down this path does not address the critical issues and we will soon be talking about four-day or three-day delivery."

At least this isn't in effect now, it would be a shame to have an extra day to get that tax refund if you're expecting it on a Saturday :)

Last 5 Blog Entries

Photo Stream

Sponsors