Postal Service May Cut Saturday Mail Delivery

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. The Southampton, Bridgehampton, Water Mill, Sagaponack and Sag Harbor post offices will remain open for business Saturdays; however, some areas of Southampton Town do not get home delivery as is, and residents must use P.O. boxes.

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

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

A Rasmussen poll on mail delivery in 2012 showed “Three-out-of-four Americans (75%) would prefer the U.S. Postal Service cut mail delivery to five days a week rather than receive government subsidies to cover ongoing losses.”

A USA Today/Gallup poll in 2010 found the majority of U.S. residents surveyed were OK with eliminating Saturday delivery. The March 2010 telephone survey of 999 adults revealed people age 55 and older were more likely than younger people to have used the mail to pay a bill or send a letter in the past two weeks.

Speak out: How will this change affect you? Will you miss getting mail on Saturdays?