Head of U.S. Postal Service says delivery could be scaled back to 3 days a week

U.S. Postal Service mail carrier, Alberto Jo, drives the mail truck as he delivers mail to homes on August 5, 2010 in Miami, Florida.

/ Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

With Internet usage rising and mail volume steadily falling, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe warned the U.S. Postal Service is going to have to make significant cutbacks that could mean no more Saturday service and eventually lead to mail delivery just three days a week.

The Postal Service's "cashflow crisis is at a critical level," Donahoe told USA Today in an interview published Wednesday. Donahoe said eliminating Saturday mail would save around $3.1 billion a year for the cash-strapped agency, projected to lose $8.3 billion this year.

"At some point, we'll have to move to three" days a week of mail delivery, possibly in 15 years, he told the newspaper.

The steady loss of revenue has prompted the Postal Service to evaluate possible cost-saving measures. Donahoe said the USPS is on track to miss a Sept. 30 payment of $5.5 billion to the U.S. Treasury that would allow the Uncle Sam to "pre-fund retired health benefits" of postal workers.

Congress mandated the six-day delivery schedule in 1983, but Donahoe said there may be more support for cutting Saturday service now as the U.S. faces more pressure to improve its fiscal condition.

The idea has "a much better chance today than a year ago. I don't know if I'd say 'likely' yet," Donahoe said.

Democratic Senator Tom Carper of Delaware has introduced legislation that would allow for the Saturday elimination, but the idea is widely opposed by rural lawmakers.

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana worries that residents of states like his would suffer as a result of the shortened delivery schedule, the newspaper reported.

Donahoe noted a USA TODAY/Gallup poll last year found more than half of those polled did not object to losing Saturday delivery.

Other cost-saving measures include a likely one cent increase for First-Class mail in January, and "reviewing 3600 post offices for some change in access." Those changes could include consolidation, closing, or contracting services out to other services. Donahoe assures that the changes will be "wide open" with "a lot of public input."

"There will always be a market for direct mail," he said, and the USPS "will still be an important part of American economy and society."

[agpid]

Funny how the Postmaster General says "cashflow crisis is at a critical level" when his salary is bigger than Obama's.

[okstater]

I work as a letter carrier for the USPS. These are facts you should all be aware of, if you are not already:
1) The USPS uses no tax dollars whatsoever. All revenue comes from the
sale of postage and a small amount from other products or services.

2) The USPS is currently required by congress to prefund retiree health
benefits up to 75 years in the future. This was designed to insure
the long-term viability of the USPS (hah). This money, paid to the
US Treasury, amounts to about 5 billion dollars yearly.

3) If not for the requirement to prefund health benefits for retirees
who haven't been born yet, the USPS would be operating in the black.

4) Since the USPS is a not-for-profit entity, designed to "break even,"
it cannot survive an additional 5 billion annual expense, UNLESS it
is allowed to utilize several billions that the civil service and
FERS retirement accounts are already over-funded by.

5) Since this extra money is in the US Treasury, congress doesn't want
the USPS to touch it, because it is being balanced against the debt.

[jetjohn]

What a MESS our government has gotten us into!!!!! Thank you okstater for enlightening me to this!!!!

[Superdeeduper]

Really? Putting more people out of work is the answer?

[mpmyers]

Why does the Post Office always do this. Why not make the move now? Go to Mon-Wed-Fri delivery and be done with it, with the exception of overnight mail. Standardize postage to 50 cents for the first ounce, 25 cents for every ounce thereafter and make post cards the same rate (always) as the "second" ounce stamps. This reduces work for everyone, increases revenue and really and truly, I doubt many of us will notice.

[mpmyers]

Oh and one more thing. Standardize delivery addresses. Tie Post Office Boxes to Street Addresses (which they already are)but do it in a way that if the PO does not deliver to the Street Address - the mail just gets sorted and scanned to be put in the PO Box. (People could opt out if they don't want this). This would also save A LOT of money and marketers would also not be getting back mail they paid to mail.

[timchi1956]

This is a candle or light bulb debate. It's time to move on to the Internet and leave the old and more expensive US Postal Service behind. The only down side I see is Uncle Sam will soon be wanting a cut of the Internet which will begin its demise as well. The Internet works and requires little overhead currently, the government does not work, requires trillions of dollars of overhead and 100 agencies to over see the smallest government efforts. I have no doubt the government will want a cut, then over regulate and tax businesses on the Internet and ultimately ruin the Internet and Internet based businesses. The government will move in like a neighborhood gang offering protection to the store owner and demanding a percentage of the profits for the protection they never intend to provide.

[Ardiva40]

Time to move to the internet instead of using USPS? Wait..
If I buy something online..how is it going to get to me then?

[karenreimer123]

Actually, a builder CAN build a new home for less than it costs to rebuild an existing home. For one thing, insurance companies have to pay for demolition and removal of the debris from the original home. http://******/rjyL2V

[carolo43]

The postal system lost over 84 Billion this year and close to that last year. Their costs have a lot to do with thousands of carrier trucks on the road that are very old and worn out to big trucks that pick up from the airports and thousands of post offices that are always in need of repair. It isn't as simply as just routes.

[BulkMailTech]

Great, a message from the PMG about many things related to the issues facing the USPS and the one thnig you pick out is that POSSIBLY, the USPS will have to go to three day delivery, in 15 YEARS.

Probably half the people reading this won't be around in 15 years.

[aldrich617]

THE POST OFFICE COULD EASILY STAY SOLVENT IF THEY
COULD GAIN ACCESS TO THEIR OWN MONEY!

How many Fortune 500 companies can boast that their pension plan
is overfunded by 60 - 70 BILLION Dollars?
How many Fortune 500 companies have to put up with politicians
blocking the use of their own money to stay in business?
NONE ON BOTH COUNTS.

Politicians and lobbyists are fronting for a group of robber barons who are drooling at the prospect of dividing up the Post Office among
themselves. The Public Interest to them is merely an obstacle to be
circumvented in their quest to bring more money to their pockets.
There is no fairness in their anti - PO plan to use all available political and media clout to prevent the USPS from fixing itself. These greedy, nasty folks do not miss a trick and work from a Murdoch-style playbook.

[allanjones1942]

get on with it already.....all you do is talk.....eliminating the saturday delivery should be the easiest part to accomplish...DO IT NOW....i personnaly get all my bills via the internet....mail about 1 to 2 letters a month....and the majority (98.6) is junk mail....i really don't think one really looks forward to getting junk mail...after eliminating saturdy, then perhaps you can look at another day....say wednesday....

[concernman]

The Postal Service needs permission from Congress to eliminate Saturday delivery. This is old news. Former PMG Jack Potter has been asking to eliminate the Saturday since 2009. He also ask to re-evaluate the pension overpayment to OPM. Congress ignore his request. As far as the internet, many people prefer physical mail to e-mail for security. How many times has a security firewall has been breached by hackers and vital information has been stolen. I see that Sony was breached recently so there is a place for physical mail.