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Cutting Saturday mail service is not the answer
Thursday April 21, 2011 | By:Dave Sherman
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The discussion concerning a reduction of U.S. mail delivery from six days to five is not new, and is just as murky as it was when it was discussed more than 30 years ago. Since that time, the playing field has become even less level.
The postmaster general proposed to Congress last year that the Postal Service reduce service by one day. Federal officials said the Postal Service could save even more money by cutting service to four days, according to Robert J. McLennan, president of Branch 3 of the National Association of Letter Carriers of Buffalo/Western New York.
“We think this is a terrible proposal for many reasons,” he wrote in a June 2010 press release. “We feel this proposal will lead to the destruction of the greatest postal service in the world.” McLennan said service actually should be expanded.
The Postal Regulatory Commission recently issued its opinion on the plan to end Saturday mail delivery, collection and outbound mail processing. The Postal Service is required to ask the commission for its view on any change in nationwide service.
The Postal Service cited falling mail volume (which means lower revenues) for the request. Express mail and existing box services at post office branches would be the only unaffected part of the package.
Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Ruth Goldway said it came up with lower estimates on how much money could be saved if Saturday delivery was cut. It also projected a greater loss in mail volume.
While the Postal Service estimated it could save $3.1 billion by changing to five-day delivery, the commission determined the savings to be $1.7 billion.
Goldway stated that full savings would most likely not be realized until three years after the change was implemented. The Postal Service says the loss in revenue would be $0.2 billion. The commission pegs it at $0.6 billion. While many residential customers in suburban Buffalo and other metropolitan areas in the Northeast can shrug their shoulders and dismiss the importance of Saturday delivery (including me), this is apparently not the case as one moves inland.
According to the commission, “The Postal Service did not evaluate the impact on the proposal on customers who reside or conduct business in rural, remote and noncontiguous areas.” It feels these customers have the most to lose. Back in Buffalo, McLennan has a response to just about every point to be made in favor of eliminating Saturday service.
“Many people depend on Saturday delivery,” he said. “Seniors who need their mail-order prescription drugs, small businesses on Main Street trying to make their payroll and major businesses like eBay whose business model depends on Saturday delivery.”
He also said the change would make the Postal Service less competitive, reduce demand more and lead to a downward spiral. Eliminating good-paying jobs would be a mistake when short-term budget problems can be solved without the cutback, he said. The National Association of Letter Carriers makes a valid point I have not read anywhere else: three-day holiday weekends for federal holidays will mean four-day service during 10 weeks each year. That’s a fact easy to understand whether you’re in Buffalo, Boise or Billings.
While it’s convenient to say the drop in revenue was created by electronic forms of communication replacing the good old-fashioned letter, the budget problems have come about because of mistaken payments to the Postal Service pension fund, Postal Service Inspector General David Williams told Congress earlier this year. If that’s the case, the real problem lies in how the agency is managed, not in how it serves the public.
Cutting service would maintain the rigid status quo, while average citizens and small businesses would be hit the hardest. This sounds remarkably similar to paying automotive industry and bank executives huge salaries and inflated bonuses while the men and women on the street struggle. The federal government should investigate and fix Postal System management rather than allowing the double whammy of perpetuating the problem and ending Saturday service.
(David F. Sherman a columnist for the Weekly Independent Newspapers of Western New York, a group of community newspapers with a combined circulation of approximately 75,000 homes. Opinions expressed here are those of the author. He can be reached at dsherman@beenews.com)
The postmaster general proposed to Congress last year that the Postal Service reduce service by one day. Federal officials said the Postal Service could save even more money by cutting service to four days, according to Robert J. McLennan, president of Branch 3 of the National Association of Letter Carriers of Buffalo/Western New York.
“We think this is a terrible proposal for many reasons,” he wrote in a June 2010 press release. “We feel this proposal will lead to the destruction of the greatest postal service in the world.” McLennan said service actually should be expanded.
The Postal Regulatory Commission recently issued its opinion on the plan to end Saturday mail delivery, collection and outbound mail processing. The Postal Service is required to ask the commission for its view on any change in nationwide service.
The Postal Service cited falling mail volume (which means lower revenues) for the request. Express mail and existing box services at post office branches would be the only unaffected part of the package.
Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Ruth Goldway said it came up with lower estimates on how much money could be saved if Saturday delivery was cut. It also projected a greater loss in mail volume.
While the Postal Service estimated it could save $3.1 billion by changing to five-day delivery, the commission determined the savings to be $1.7 billion.
Goldway stated that full savings would most likely not be realized until three years after the change was implemented. The Postal Service says the loss in revenue would be $0.2 billion. The commission pegs it at $0.6 billion. While many residential customers in suburban Buffalo and other metropolitan areas in the Northeast can shrug their shoulders and dismiss the importance of Saturday delivery (including me), this is apparently not the case as one moves inland.
According to the commission, “The Postal Service did not evaluate the impact on the proposal on customers who reside or conduct business in rural, remote and noncontiguous areas.” It feels these customers have the most to lose. Back in Buffalo, McLennan has a response to just about every point to be made in favor of eliminating Saturday service.
“Many people depend on Saturday delivery,” he said. “Seniors who need their mail-order prescription drugs, small businesses on Main Street trying to make their payroll and major businesses like eBay whose business model depends on Saturday delivery.”
He also said the change would make the Postal Service less competitive, reduce demand more and lead to a downward spiral. Eliminating good-paying jobs would be a mistake when short-term budget problems can be solved without the cutback, he said. The National Association of Letter Carriers makes a valid point I have not read anywhere else: three-day holiday weekends for federal holidays will mean four-day service during 10 weeks each year. That’s a fact easy to understand whether you’re in Buffalo, Boise or Billings.
While it’s convenient to say the drop in revenue was created by electronic forms of communication replacing the good old-fashioned letter, the budget problems have come about because of mistaken payments to the Postal Service pension fund, Postal Service Inspector General David Williams told Congress earlier this year. If that’s the case, the real problem lies in how the agency is managed, not in how it serves the public.
Cutting service would maintain the rigid status quo, while average citizens and small businesses would be hit the hardest. This sounds remarkably similar to paying automotive industry and bank executives huge salaries and inflated bonuses while the men and women on the street struggle. The federal government should investigate and fix Postal System management rather than allowing the double whammy of perpetuating the problem and ending Saturday service.
(David F. Sherman a columnist for the Weekly Independent Newspapers of Western New York, a group of community newspapers with a combined circulation of approximately 75,000 homes. Opinions expressed here are those of the author. He can be reached at dsherman@beenews.com)
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