Although eliminating Saturday delivery has been heavily debated, reducing delivery to 5 days a week may not be enough. There has been some discussion of whether the viable model for the U.S. Postal Service of the future will incorporate 3-day delivery.
A 2010 study by the Boston Consulting Group for the Postal Service forecasts that the average pieces of mail per delivery point per delivery day will drop from 3.8 to 2.8 by 2020. If this projection holds true, then more households will likely receive no mail on any given day. With the increasing availability of alternative communication choices, it is unlikely that the demand for mail delivery will ever return to previous levels. Therefore, postal delivery may only be needed 3 days a week. Some homes could receive mail on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, while others, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Delivery would still occur 6 days a week for Post Office boxes. This additional benefit for P.O. Boxes would meet the needs of customers who have need of 6-day delivery, while generating higher revenue and increasing traffic for the Post Office.
Loading ...For many customers in the future, the amount of mail they will receive on a given day may not warrant the effort required to check their mailboxes every day. Delivering 3 days per week roughly doubles the amount of mail a household receives on a given day, making the “mail moment” of receiving mail more significant. The savings could be significant. With the Postal Service estimating a $3.5 billion saving from cutting one day of delivery, cutting three days could save roughly $10 billion.
An additional benefit of this every-other-day schedule is that about 50 percent of the mail will have an additional day to reach its destination. These savings can be realized through the use of less costly modes of transportation, additional use of hub-and-spoke mail consolidation network design, and additional load balancing for the mail processing equipment.
What do you think? Can this model balance the need to be financially viable while meeting the needs of the public?
This topic is hosted by the OIG’s Risk Analysis Research Center (RARC).
58 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Reply
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
2 
8
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
2 
8
Mailoser: Thank you for your comment. Please contact the OIG Hotline at 1-888-USPS-OIG or at http://www.uspsoig.gov/contact.htm.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
The Post Office is in dire need of restructuring. Someone needs to step in and refresh the whole system.
Why are there rural and city carriers doing essentially the same thing and their rules are very different. Find the best characteristics from each and use the best method which should in some way be like the private sector. City carriers have more incentive to not work efficiently. Some rural carriers make up to 80k per year plus benefits and work less than 40 hours per week.
Establish a rational high and low salary and give incentives to all carriers. Pay carriers to work rather than being on the clock and the number of routes will shrink and the mail will get delivered earlier in the day (city carriers).
Hot debate. What do you think?
13 
10
I am a rural carrier, have never heard of a rural carrier that makes that much money, true some of us are done with our rts under the evaluated time. the best way to handle the rural carrier craft is to combine the J rts and aux to the exiting rts in the office. we have 3 J rts in the office where I work.rural carriers save the postal service money. thats way they aren’t breathing down our necks like they do city carriers. maybe all carriers should be on evaluated system, no more overtime, do your job and go home. the postal service does need to refresh its system to the times at hand. with fax machines and email we have to move ahead.
Like or Dislike:
5 
2
Rural Carriers may be paid an evaluation and beat that evaluation, but how many people who work if given the same incentive could do the same. We work hard to do this and perform more services for our customers than city carriers. So please don’t knock us if you have not been there. We work for years with no benefits and “rights” we have to run routes with no training at all, and are expected to run it as well as the regular carrier and within the evaluation. We are supposed to be available 6 days a week (and years ago it was 7) with no promise of work and no pay if you don’t. So we have paid our dues.
Like or Dislike:
4 
0
maleit,i work for the post office.i can assure you,no carrier working under 40hrs a week makes 80k a year!!a average 40 hour week they make 50k a year,and we put our money in retirement and health care.we get nothing from the post office except a hard time.theres 1 supervisor for every 10 workers,as well as someone in management 1 for every 4 workers.look it up.to many people in management! supervisors make double of a worker,and it keeps going up from there,the avaeage post master makes over 100k a year!!
Like or Dislike:
2 
3
Rural routes are the way to go, but the union doesn’t want that system to work. If its about incentive and productivity, rural routes are the way to go! Eliminate city deliver!
Hot debate. What do you think?
5 
4
The Post Office would do OK if we could only get the goevernment off our back.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
7 
0
I for one do not want a 5-day delivery. This means that the USPS will outsource the 6th delivery day to a subcontractor, who is not a federal employee. I personally do not want just anyone going into my mailbox or delivering my mail.
Like or Dislike:
2 
5
Not in my office… I can truly say that my entire staff of city carriers and clerks are caring of one another and do not feel the same as you.My reasoning for deciding to be come a Postmaster was to create a positive working environment. Too bad so sad for you.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
City carriers are the ones who works hard.. Really really hard. Some supervisors busy online shopping, checking Facebook and when get bored go out and check the carriers.
Like or Dislike:
2 
5
OK we got alot of people on here that are under the table. Average Postmaster does not make over $100 way off due to I am average. 2nd I have been a Army Soldier, US Marine, clerk, city carrier and now a Postmaster I have worked hard my life in the government. Nothing will be out sorced if we go to 5 days, it will be just like a week with a holiday every week, only the PO will delivery the mail. And yes city carriers not all try every day how to make 8 hrs, under trees, 1hr lunches ect. Rural get in and out and go home, this is how they all should work. I would take 50 rural over 5 city any day of the week.
Like or Dislike:
5 
0
im a rural carrier sub makin less than 25k a year we get no benefits, no holiday pay and make half of what a regular carrier makes, saturday delivery is my only guaranteed work day cmon america theres alot of jobs in the usps just like mine average people makin less than average wages and our president is creatin jobs?????
Like or Dislike:
0 
1
Every other day delivery is the only option- JUST DO IT…lifestyles will not be effected, everyone can adjust, and the postal service will be sustainable. Newspapers are closing due to the internet, along with many big-box retailers and DVD rentals will become download only. The Post Office MUST stop the bleeding and every other day delivery is the solution. This is the best way to create a sustainable Postal Service and the public must accept this, or massive closures.
Like or Dislike:
3 
1
UPS makes profit, you do not. You say you track. You do not show daily location even estimated day of arrival, UPS does. In the last 5 years I have been in FL or Vegas for the winter, for of them you have screwed up our mail. One you made me loose my NYS STAR exemption. Another you caused me to pay more for my VA health care. One year (only by the grace of the local postman) could I get mail to my address and then only once a week. Even at my home in NY They only deliver packages to my residence. Letters and small packages I have to walk hundreds of yards or drive to get. (If I did not have permission to cross my neighbors property, it would be twice as far.)
Like or Dislike:
0 
2
5 days… first it will cost about 40,000 job.. Next what if you work in a heavy office where you get much more volume then other offices.. You come back to work on a Monday after no delivering Saturday and what if you have a business route? Your route will be so heavy on Monday you will NOT in no way be able to get the route done in 8,,, 10 even in some cases 12 hrs.. And of course the supervisors most whom have never carried mail b4 will tell you it can be done in 8. In the heavy offices with a 5 day delivery they will working 14 hrs a day on some days… Now common sense woudl tell you that on Mondays they need to bring all the TEs,, PTFs. But we all know how that goes. Ha Ha! Instead they will push you and push you and threaten you with PDIs until you go over the edge. Well you know they have to make the numbers look good
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
At my office, carriers are working 8-10 hours per day, delivering 6 days per week. Cut out a day of delivery? They will be working 20% longer each day, or 9-12 hours per day. Cut out 3 days? Carriers will be working 12-15 hours per day, and will have to delay significant amounts of mail just to accomplish that goal. The physical and mental toll on the letter carrier will be extreme. Injuries and illness will drastically increase as carriers physically break down under the sheer weight and volume of the mail. Accidents will increase, as carriers will be delivering mail to residences 1,2,3 or even 4 hours after dark. That is what will happen. Its happening now in certain parts of the country where upper management insists on short-staffing the letter carriers. Delivering to half the mailboxes each day wont’ work, as advertisers and mailers will scream bloody murder as their products and ads don’t reach their customers on a timely basis. The Postal Service is an advertising arm of small, medium, and large businesses. Until the people advocating for less service and less delivery days understand that, they will continue to suggest short-sighted suggestions that will destroy the POstal Service, cause good people to lose jobs, and alienate their customers, especially the SENDERS of the mail.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0