# Number of Days You Need Mail Delivered **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 7, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517 "2011-09-07T17:38:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AndyLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AndyLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyLee)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/1 "2011-09-07T17:38:39Z")
I heard on the news last night the post office wants to cut back to five days of delivery of mail. Which is fine with me as I pay everything but my rent online. My question is what is the least amount of days you would find acceptable for the post office to cut back to? Or even zero if you pick it up yourself. Also, I have a long time ago, some businesses would have mail delivered twice daily, is this true? ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/2 "2011-09-07T17:45:15Z")
I would be able to manage with incoming mail a couple of days a week. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/3 "2011-09-07T17:54:41Z")
Monday, Wednesday, Friday. (3) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/4 "2011-09-07T17:58:36Z")
I get a pension check by mail (direct deposit not an option for them) and there’ve been a few months when I needed to get it to the bank **right now**. If not for that, I could easily get mail once a week. And if I knew ahead of time not to expect it on the first, I could probably adapt. The post office rep who addressed the community a few months back said that what hurt the post office most was the financial crisis. Obvious, you might say, but she went on to explain that when banks stopped sending credit card offers to 90% of the population, that was the beginning of the end. The postal service is too specialized to survive the way it is now, in dedicated buildings with highly-paid employees selling stamps. They need to branch out, start providing other services, or combine with other businesses. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/5 "2011-09-07T18:38:10Z")
Mon Wed Fri would be fine with me. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/6 "2011-09-07T18:42:07Z")
I’d be fine with 5 days per week as long as one of the weekend days allowed for mail delivery. If they want to skip Sunday and Wednesday or whatever that is fine, but if they skip to only M-F or some variant thereof I will never be at home to receive another package or important piece of mail again and that would annoy me. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/7 "2011-09-07T18:54:52Z")
I said they don’t have to deliver it at all, but with a caveat: I’m sick and tired of coming home to delivery notices where I have to wait until the next day to pick up my package. If I can get to the delivery centre for 6pm, let me get my damn package same day. Also, I would absolutely love some sort of email or text message setup for mail. If something has a tracking number I can set up email notification, but if I could get a PO Box or central mailing centre where they email you if mail is put into your box, I’d love it. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/8 "2011-09-07T19:07:35Z")
> [@](#): > > The post office rep who addressed the community a few months back said that what hurt the post office most was the financial crisis. Obvious, you might say, but she went on to explain that when banks stopped sending credit card offers to 90% of the population, that was the beginning of the end. > > The postal service is too specialized to survive the way it is now, in dedicated buildings with highly-paid employees selling stamps. They need to branch out, start providing other services, or combine with other businesses. I rant about telemarketing and spam. This is because the advertising costs are partially borne by the targets. Junk mail, however, subsidizes (or used to subsidize) other sorts of mail…so I grit my teeth. Now, if telemarketers or spammers had to pay a fee per target, however small, to offset the cost of phone or internet connections for their targets, I’d grit my teeth. Part of what is killing the USPS is the fact that other companies are allowed to cherrypick the more lucrative bits of the service that they offer. If the other companies were required to offer first class mail to EVERY address in the US, I think that perhaps that would be fairer. > [@](#): > > I’m sick and tired of coming home to delivery notices where I have to wait until the next day to pick up my package. It’s not just the PO that does this. It seems that EVERY delivery service has gone to simply putting notes on my door, claiming to have attempted delivery. Odd, I was home and awake all day, and never heard the doorbell… ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/9 "2011-09-07T19:08:22Z")
I don’t care much about how often regular mail is delivered (I could live with 3x a week) but I HATE waiting extra days for packages. I would be upset if package delivery days were cut. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/10 "2011-09-07T19:20:14Z")
I wish the USPS would DIAF. It’s just such a bizarre, bloated, anachronistic concept. I get that it may have been necessary at some point in our history, but today it’s just this weird business that the US government does on the side. It’s as weird as if the US government had a brand of barbecue sauce or something. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/11 "2011-09-07T19:28:00Z")
One day a week would probably be fine. There’s time with bills, catalogs, announcements, invitations, magazines, etc. The only thing I benefit from daily is the newspaper and they’re unrelated. Seriously, every Saturday would suit my needs just fine. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/12 "2011-09-07T19:28:56Z")
i’ve been told by relatives that there was twice a day delivery some long time, maybe 75 years, ago. there would have to be some relaxing of standards for 5 day delivery. i’ve heard that Monday is a pain for carriers in sorting and delivering because it is 2 days of accumulation. to not deliver on Saturday may make some sense for the business week but it would make the situation worse for the post office. there would have to be changes in the standard of how many days delivery could take and how much could be held back or unsorted. businesses might also have to mail earlier, like if they mail 9 days early intending on you having it a week before a date they now would need to mail it 15 days earlier to acount for one less delivery day or more mail held back. ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/13 "2011-09-07T19:38:39Z")
I voted 3 days but only because of packages and I’d rather ship via UPS or FedEx most of the time. My only complaint with UPS and FedEx is that I work 10hr shifts, I’m gone for almost 12hrs a day, I will not be there to receive a package. Ever. So those little notices on the door are vexing. It’s nice to know that I can send something USPS and get it eventually. ---
**Author:** ![geneb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@geneb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geneb)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/14 "2011-09-07T19:50:15Z")
I voted other… I could live with delivery once a week so long as someone was still at the post office at least 5 days a week for me to drop outgoing mail off that can’t wait until the next delivery date. The only reason I needed 6 day delivery before was because of Netflix but we won’t be getting DVDs in the mail anymore so that’s not a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Brandus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Brandus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brandus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/15 "2011-09-07T19:51:52Z")
I would prefer not to have a mailbox at all. It’s all credit card offers and junk mail anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Elret](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Elret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elret)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/16 "2011-09-07T19:56:10Z")
A dumb question from a Canadian who has always had M-F delivery only, what do y’all have now? ---
**Author:** ![geneb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@geneb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geneb)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/17 "2011-09-07T20:02:21Z")
> [@Elret](#): > > A dumb question from a Canadian who has always had M-F delivery only, what do y’all have now? Everyday but Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/18 "2011-09-07T20:07:08Z")
Right now it’s six days a week, none on Sundays or holidays. I voted 2x/week but frankly could live with less. I think there are only 3-4 things a month that come in the USPS mail that really matter to me; everything else either comes electronically. Probably 85% of our daily mail is ads, flyers, solicitations and other junk that just goes straight into the recycle bin. Most of the other 15% could probably come online. Occasionally we get an actual, hand-written letter or a card, but two mail deliveries a week would be more than sufficient for those. ---
**Author:** ![FoundWaldo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@FoundWaldo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoundWaldo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/19 "2011-09-07T20:20:43Z")
I would be ok with 2-3 days a week. I once lived in a place where there was no mail delivery, we had to go pick it up at the post office. I didn’t like that, and wouldn’t particularly want to go back to it. Especially when most of what’s there is going straight into the recycle bin. One time, I got a package slip in my PO box. I waited in the line for probably about 15-20 minutes to get up to the counter and get my package. The guy went in the back to get it, and when he came out, he had a funny grin on his face. The “package” was an AOL disk!!! What a waste of time. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517/20 "2011-09-07T20:27:52Z")
I voted too hastily. One day a week is what I chose, but since I go to the PO box once a week, the pickup option would’ve been more appropriate. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-days-you-need-mail-delivered/595517.md?page=2)