Most forms of Saturday mail delivery will end in August, the U.S. Postal Service announced this morning. The money-saving move will only be staved off if Congress intervenes, and despite frequent suggestions from Postal Service brass dating back to 1976, legislators have been loath to cut Saturday delivery in the past. This time is different, Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe explained to reporters, because in all the parade of budget circus tricks emanating from the Capitol Hill menagerie, the usual rider (a fixture since 1984) mandating Saturday delivery is missing. By moving first, the ... Read More
If Postal Service Diversifies, It Can Deliver
September 7, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
When U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe told a Senate committee this week that the U.S. Postal Service had some pretty big bills coming up and no money to pay them, he really just updated an old story with new facts. The USPS has been pretty much in "check in the mail" mode for years, and the current liquidity crunch just caps years of declining volume (especially in the most profitable niches), greater competition on the delivery front and online, and higher operating costs. To banish an estimated $20 billion shortfall by 2015, Donahoe asked the legislators to let the ... Read More
Sleet, Rain, Snow, No Problem! But Budget Shortfall?
March 4, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Postmaster General John Potter unveiled his vision earlier this week for the future of the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service, and most reports of the plan have since focused on one unsettling prospect: Mail in America may soon be delivered only five days a week. (Most reports of the plan have also featured the headline "Postal Service delivers bad news.") Such a change, Potter suggested, would save about $3 billion a year against a shortfall the Postal Service projects, under current policies, would reach $238 billion over the next decade. But while no Saturday delivery sounds pretty ... Read More
