# Postmaster General: Mail days may need to be cut **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 28, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440 "2009-01-28T21:20:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/21 "2009-01-29T13:13:59Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > My USPS letter carrier husband is voting Saturday, so he can have a weekend off “like normal people”. Due to their current system, we only have a weekend off together every 6 weeks, assuming that he doesn’t have to work that day off due to workload. It’s been tough for us to plan trips out of town, or to get together with friends if they’d like to see us on a Saturday, so a ‘natural’ weekend would be something he’d love. > > It sounds like Tuesday is the early lead in the official word on matters, though, due to that being the lightest mail load day typically. So not happy about that. :mad: MrWhatsit is a letter carrier also, and I second your sentiments. However, his opinion is that the light mail on Tuesday is just an artifact of Sunday being a no-mail day, and that Saturday will be the one to go if they axe one. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/22 "2009-01-29T13:34:40Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Is it true that in some large cities that big corporations receive two mail deliveries a day? Years ago, I heard big companies in New York City get two deliveries a day during the week. Was this true? Is it still true? > > Saturday delivery can go. This used to happen for residential mail during the holidays. ---
**Author:** ![Karyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/fbc32d/32.png) [@Karyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karyn)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/23 "2009-01-29T14:26:58Z")
I only get mail 3 times a week if I’m lucky as it is. I’ve already learned to adjust and nothing gets sent to me that needs that fast of a turnaround. Almost all of my banking and bill paying is done online, everyone I know uses email and other then at tax time I don’t get any important mail anymore. USPS uses contractors here and mail is frequently lost or stolen. Just a few weeks ago they came across a garage where thousands of pieces of our mail had been tossed 5 years ago and now I’m getting bills from 2004. What I think is most worrisome about this are the rural or housebound people that get their meds by mail. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/24 "2009-01-29T14:40:50Z")
> [@Karyn](#): > > I only get mail 3 times a week if I’m lucky as it is. I’ve already learned to adjust and nothing gets sent to me that needs that fast of a turnaround. Almost all of my banking and bill paying is done online, everyone I know uses email and other then at tax time I don’t get any important mail anymore. USPS uses contractors here and mail is frequently lost or stolen. Just a few weeks ago they came across a garage where thousands of pieces of our mail had been tossed 5 years ago and now I’m getting bills from 2004. > > What I think is most worrisome about this are the rural or housebound people that get their meds by mail. I never thought of meds-by-mail. That’s a huge concern. Do they actually use the US Mail predominantly, or does that stuff come via UPS or FedEx? ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/25 "2009-01-29T15:32:58Z")
The thing is, those meds-by-mail are not the ‘urgent’/‘emergency’ type meds anyway. You get an infection and get prescribed an antibiotic? You don’t mail the script off and wait for two weeks – you go to the pharmacy right away. The mail order stuff is pretty much for maintenance meds, and likely you get a three month supply at a time. So Medco et al will simply adjust and mail their packages a day or two earlier than they do now, to avoid that one extra non-delivery day. So I don’t think that’s a real problem. ---
**Author:** ![Karyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/fbc32d/32.png) [@Karyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karyn)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/26 "2009-01-29T16:16:32Z")
Thanks for that explanation - it makes sense that people wouldn’t use it for short-term refills. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/27 "2009-01-29T17:24:47Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > I never thought of meds-by-mail. That’s a huge concern. Do they actually use the US Mail predominantly, or does that stuff come via UPS or FedEx? I have my prescripton meds (and I have several prescriptions) sent by mail. Most of the time they come by USPS. If I am willing to pay extra, they can ship them by FedEx. Ed ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/28 "2009-01-30T00:26:19Z")
It wasted energy and money. 80% of what gets delivered to us in in the trash within 30 seconds! And the PO claims junk mail allows them to keep 1st class rates low! Stupid!:smack: ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/29 "2009-01-30T01:10:20Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > It wasted energy and money. 80% of what gets delivered to us in in the trash within 30 seconds! And the PO claims junk mail allows them to keep 1st class rates low! Stupid!:smack: They don’t care what you do with it once it arrives in your mailbox. The bulk-rate customers give the USPS a huge amount of business and a huge amount of revenue. I don’t see what’s so stupid about this. (I don’t like junk mail any more than anyone else, but that doesn’t mean that the P.O. isn’t making money from it.) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/30 "2009-01-30T01:12:31Z")
I have lived in a number of places and the US is the only one with Saturday delivery. When I spent six months in Switzerland in 1967 there were eleven deliveries a week. Three years later, I spent a year there and they had cut it to five. No loss, really. Here is Canada there are just five. I don’t think there would be much loss of they delivered only MWF (although the unions wouldn’t be happy; maybe it could neighborhood by neighborhood, MWF in one and TTh in others). Much more important to me is delivery at the house. I have a son living in Redmond, WA and he has to go to a facility in the middle of the street to get his six deliveries a week. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/31 "2009-01-30T01:49:07Z")
Um, folks, you realize this is a total scam. It happens with every new president. New Prez wants to cut the budget, and the department heads don’t want their budget cut. So rather than the USPS making a 10% overall cut, the Postmaster General says he’ll “have no choice” but to drop Saturday delivery. Oh noes!!!11111 Then people get up in arms, write to their Congress critters, and the USPS budget is restored. Oh, and if we cut one dime from the National Park Service, then Old Faithful will be shut off. And don’t get me started about DoD - any cuts there and Bolsheviks will patrol the streets. Lather, rinse, repeat for every department. :rolleyes: I’ve seen this crap since the Ford days. It probably goes back at least to Johnson. Andy Johnson. I hope Team Obama has a strategy for dealing with these kind of games, because they will come up again. To the OP I guess they might as well drop Saturday. Many businesses are closed then anyway. Or they could rates the rates on junk mail and either make more money, or deliver less dead tree spam. Either way I’m happy. Chances are stamps will go up again as part of a “compromise” package to “save weekend delivery”. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/32 "2009-01-30T01:51:03Z")
Just as Netflix is starting Saturday delivery, the USPS comes up with this stupid idea. I don’t actually think the USPS will cut back to 5 days a week. Sounds like some saber rattling so they can get some money tossed at them. If it wasn’t for Netflix, I wouldn’t care about Saturday delivery. But increasing the delivery time for dvds wouldn’t make me happy. Yes, I know I can stream them. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/33 "2009-01-30T02:53:36Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > My USPS letter carrier husband is voting Saturday, so he can have a weekend off “like normal people”. Due to their current system, we only have a weekend off together every 6 weeks, assuming that he doesn’t have to work that day off due to workload. It’s been tough for us to plan trips out of town, or to get together with friends if they’d like to see us on a Saturday, so a ‘natural’ weekend would be something he’d love. > > It sounds like Tuesday is the early lead in the official word on matters, though, due to that being the lightest mail load day typically. So not happy about that. :mad: FWIW a co-worker used to be a mail carrier and claims Saturday has the lightest volume of mail. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/34 "2009-01-30T03:28:38Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Just as Netflix is starting Saturday delivery, the USPS comes up with this stupid idea. What do you mean starting? I’ve had Netflix for a few years and this is nothing new. The movies they send on Fridays arrive on Saturday (usually). ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/35 "2009-01-30T04:26:25Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > Um, folks, you realize this is a total scam. It happens with every new president. New Prez wants to cut the budget, and the department heads don’t want their budget cut. So rather than the USPS making a 10% overall cut, the Postmaster General says he’ll “have no choice” but to drop Saturday delivery. > > Oh noes!!!11111 > > Then people get up in arms, write to their Congress critters, and the USPS budget is restored. > > Oh, and if we cut one dime from the National Park Service, then Old Faithful will be shut off. And don’t get me started about DoD - any cuts there and Bolsheviks will patrol the streets. Lather, rinse, repeat for every department. :rolleyes: > > I’ve seen this crap since the Ford days. It probably goes back at least to Johnson. Andy Johnson. > > I hope Team Obama has a strategy for dealing with these kind of games, because they will come up again. > > To the OP I guess they might as well drop Saturday. Many businesses are closed then anyway. Or they could rates the rates on junk mail and either make more money, or deliver less dead tree spam. Either way I’m happy. Chances are stamps will go up again as part of a “compromise” package to “save weekend delivery”. :rolleyes: I think they’ll be pretty damn disappointed if that’s what they’re drying to do here, because who gets anything important through the USPS, especially on Saturday? A few tax forms, once a year, but an extra day in the delivery time won’t matter there. Hell, I say save the money, offer Monday-Wednesday-Friday delivery and be done with it. Less junk mail for everyone! ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/36 "2009-01-30T08:53:48Z")
I’m all for it. Cut a day, any day, I don’t care. Cut them all, actually. I hate the friggin’ mail. My letter carrier probably hates me because I only check the mail once every week or two. I throw my unopened bank statements into a box, and toss the rest of the crap in the trash. I have two bills that I look for each month (rent and utilities). So, Cut away, USPS. Throw a dart at the calendar, and take that day off! ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/37 "2009-01-30T13:35:14Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > What do you mean starting? I’ve had Netflix for a few years and this is nothing new. The movies they send on Fridays arrive on Saturday (usually). They are thinking of shipping on Saturday to arrive on Monday. [Story here.](http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2009/01/netflix-testing-weekend-shipping-close-to-60-shipping-centers-1.html) Right now, Netflix only ships M-F. Any movies received on Friday/Saturday are shipped on Monday. ---
**Author:** ![Karyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/fbc32d/32.png) [@Karyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karyn)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/38 "2009-01-30T13:43:31Z")
Even though I worked for government I can’t understand why they feel the need to do this. USPS has been complaining for years that the amount of mail has been dropping steadily thanks to email, and from the outside it looks like their response to dwindling demand is to raise costs and cut services instead of a permanent RIF. Maybe they’ve done that already and I’m unaware of it, but staying at full force makes no sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/39 "2009-01-30T15:01:10Z")
Ok, I really don’t understand this. If you have less mail because more people are using email, then why don’t you…ohhh…I don’t know…cut back on your capacity in some way? I mean…is delivering mail harder now than it was in the 1950’s? Fewer pieces of mail means fewer sorters…or that the delivery person has to cover a larger area. I can maybe understand when the price of gas went through the roof having budget issues, but it’s come back down to reasonable levels. So how are they loosing so much money that they just can’t recover from without cutting days? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440/40 "2009-01-30T15:05:56Z")
> [@Karyn](#): > > Even though I worked for government I can’t understand why they feel the need to do this. USPS has been complaining for years that the amount of mail has been dropping steadily thanks to email, and from the outside it looks like their response to dwindling demand is to raise costs and cut services instead of a permanent RIF. Maybe they’ve done that already and I’m unaware of it, but staying at full force makes no sense to me. They’ve already been cutting back their workforce. My husband’s been telling me about the “early out” offers they gave to people within a few years of retirement age; not too many took them at his office. A lot of the eligible people talked about the hits that their retirement packages had taken recently and how that wasn’t a good time for them to retire. Those jobs will be removed via attrition. His office just went through route changes which eliminated more positions and put the extra work on the remaining routes - fewer carriers carrying more mail each day already. The lowest-seniority carriers who no longer have routes can be reassigned to any office with openings within **50 miles** of their current office! Some of these guys already drive 10-20 miles to go to work, so what if their new office is even further from home? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postmaster-general-mail-days-may-need-to-be-cut/483440.md?page=3)