No Saturday mail would cause few concerns

Last week, the U.S. Postal Service announced that it might eliminate Saturday mail delivery as a way to trim its burgeoning debt.

The amount of mail the postal service will process is expected to fall from 177 billion in 2009 to 150 billion in 2020, said John E. Potter, the postmaster general and chief executive officer for the U.S. Postal Service.

According to a statement on the U.S. Postal Service's Web site, that is a 37 percent drop in First-Class mail. Revenue contributed by the First Class mail will drop from 51 percent today to 35 percent in 2020. If the Postal Service does nothing, there will be a shortfall of $238 billion by 2020.

Eliminating Saturday mail service is one way to help reduce that shortfall.

"It would be a nationwide elimination, and will be (formally) presented in the next few months," said Carl Walton, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service for the Greensboro district, which includes Catawba County.

Currently, federal law requires the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail six days a week. Congress would have to approve legislation allowing mail to be delivered five days a week. Walton said the earliest the elimination of Saturday deliver would be approved and go into effect would be the beginning of next year.

Walton said if the Postal Service does decide to eliminate Saturday mail, it will just have to be a new schedule for customers.

"I don't consider it a delay, it's a shift in schedule," Walton said.

Customers who rent post office boxes will still be able to get mail out of their boxes on Saturdays, but they will not have mail delivered to their boxes on Saturdays, either, Walton said.

Morgan Frye, 31, of Taylorsville, said he wouldn't be upset if he no longer had his mail delivered on Saturdays.

"It wouldn't bother me at all," he said. "I mostly get junk mail. I pay all my bills online. I think (the Postal Service) is outdated."

Tabitha Hope of Maiden said she rarely uses the mail on Saturday.

"Unless I forget to put a check in the mail, that's about it," she said. "Sometimes I forget to check it until Sunday."

Trish Jones, 50, also said she wouldn't be very concerned if Saturday mail was eliminated. Al-though she checks her mail daily, she said Saturday mail isn't necessary.

Paul Fogleman Jr. agreed.

"It wouldn't have a major impact on us," he said. "So much is going through e-mail."

His wife, Martha, could remember when the Postal Service used to have two mail deliveries a day in the 1940s. However, it was trimmed to once a day when the amount of mail in the system dropped.

Walton said that is what's happening now.

"Five day delivers is one part of the model to make it more flexible to meet the demands of the public," he said. "It is currently set up for a lot more mail volume. The structure can't support it, so we need to change the business model."

He said laying off employees would not be one of the cost-cutting measures. Walton said the cost-cutting measures from the reduction of Saturday delivery come from not opening buildings and having electricity costs on that day, and not paying employees to run their routes on those Saturdays. Walton said the Postal Service has also eliminated positions through not filling spots that have been lost through attrition.

According to the statement on the Postal Service's Web site, it is looking to eliminate its $115 billion shortfall by:
-Restructuring retiree health benefits to be in line with the federal government standards.
-Providing services at locations like grocery stores, pharmacies and retail centers, and have self-service kiosks.
-Establish a more flexible workforce, as more than 300,000 employees become eligible to retire in the coming decade.
-A price increase will be proposed, effective in 2011.
-Permit the Postal Service to evaluate and introduce more new products.