Last Thursday the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) issued its advisory opinion on the U. S. Postal Service’s proposal to switch to five-day delivery. Following a year-long analysis, the PRC voiced concerns with the request, questioning the potential savings, the impact on service, and the effect on communities, especially in rural areas. However, the Commission was unable to reach a consensus and did not issue an opinion to endorse or reject the proposal to cut Saturday delivery.
The Postal Service responded with a statement from the Postmaster General, reiterating that five-day delivery is a core element of the Postal Service’s strategy for the future. The statement also said the Postal Service will continue to press its case before Congress, which has the authority to change delivery requirements.
Do you think the Postal Service has a case for five-day delivery? Although 5-day delivery is a key element of the Postal Service’s future plans, there are many other options under consideration at this point in time. In your mind, what do you think are the most important options? Give your comments below.
Note: The U.S. Governement Accountability office just released its own report on 5-day delivery.
This topic is hosted by the OIG’s Risk Analysis Research Center (RARC).
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I agree with 5 day delivery but think the biggest savings would come from eliminating door to door delivery. Can you imagine how much the postal service would save on labor, dog bites, & injuries? There’s nothing wrong with cluster boxes. I believe more mail would be secure with these locking boxes anyway. Should have been done long ago. Has there ever been a public vote on it?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Come to Chicago and check out how the majority of these have already had a crowbar put to them to get at whats inside.
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If the USPS wants to keep any level of self sufficiency, then they are going to have to go to a 5 day schedule and work smarter and more efficiently.
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One thing I don’t understand is how someone that has no idea how the postal service operates can even comment on what the postal service needs to do to fix its budget woes? Now with that said take it from someone who knows what they are talking about> why would you want to stop mail delivery for 1 day per week when this is what it will do for the postal service> All of the offices would continue to be open on the days that just the delivery personal will be off> This would mean that most if not all of the substitute carriers would loose their jobs which could add a profit to the budget, but then that means that since the delivery or mail carrier which gets paid by the amount of work he carriers(not an hourly wage base) with the offices remaining open and the mail trucks/plants and such still running , The mail delivery person would be delivering the mail that was supposed to be delivered on the day he or she was forced to be off on the next day along with the mail for that day also, which means he or she will be delivering two days or being forced to do two days of work in the next day he is allowed to work. And I am quite sure he or she will be expected to do this double day of work with the same pay as one. Now with that said if you pay that delivery person by the work he or she is doing (which is how they are suppose to be paid) You will have to pay them for the extra days worth of mail which will wouldn’t be much of a saving at all (maybe a little for equipment allowance would be all you would save). Also lets say that you stop a day of delivery and keep the offices open which is what the postal service is wanting to do and you force the delivery person to do this extra day of work for free> then that would mean the budget for each office would save quite a bit> then as you probably don’t know is that the supervisors/managements pay and bonuses are based on the profit margin for that office so then most of the saved money would go to extra pay for the supervisors/managers and such since the profit for that office would increase. So where is the savings? This proposal just want work unless you put a pay lock on the overhead at the same time you stop mail delivery and also you should close all operations on that day. Now with all that said why should just the delivery personal be the ones to take the majority of the cut in salary for the entire postal service and the rest of the employees pay continue as normal or even at an increase? And might I add that as the mail volume has decreased over the past years the mail delivery personal pay has already been cut with the decrease in mail volume (they get paid by the work they do not an hourly rate) and be rest assured as the mail has decreased so has their pay been adjusted already. And that is probably something else you don’t know the postal service has and is continuing to adjust the pay for their delivery personal as the mail volume changes. So now I ask you this question where or what is the postal service savings going to be by stopping mail/parcel delivery on any day of the week? Also what has the postal service done with the pay they have already taken from the mail delivery personal over the past years as the mail volume has decreased? I know the answer; let’s see if you can figure it out?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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thefactsrhere is a complete idiot! you do not know what you’re talking about. where did you get your information from…they’re completely wrong like you!
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All you really know is your station isn’t it? 6 day delivery stopped making sence five years ago. The GPS movements in your vehicle the on board cameras on test vehicles and mail volume have proven beyond a doubt what a carriers day is like on a Saturday. Even after a holiday nationwide a supervisor is spending an average of only “1″ additional hour of pay to catch up for the “8″ hours of missed delivery the day before. We ate broke, don’t get me wrong I am a proud NALC card carrying member, but also am realistic. Saturday mail delivery is an absolute waste of postal recourses. Polls have showed that most members of management, craft employees and most importantly postal customers stand behind removing a sixth day of delivery.
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5-day delivery is so 1980s. If the Postmaster General is ONLY pushing for 5-day delivery, he should be fired. How about 3-day delivery – Mon/Wed/Fri. The physical post offices can be open for business 6 days per week, but physical mail delivery by carrier should be reduced to 3 days per week. What do the carriers do the balance of the week? Work in the physical post office of course. You’ll likely save 50% of your fuel costs and a whole lot of personnel costs. Boo Hoo, no more 6-day delivery…get over it.
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Titus is correct. I’m done casing a Rural Route within an hour and done delivering in 3 hours on Saturday. Tuesdays following holidays I’m only adding maybe 30 minutes to a full day. It would be even lower on Mondays following no Saturday delivery because I wont be taking the Advos ( Red Plum, ads,Papers,or whatever you want to call them), out until Tuesday. I could see a reason to add Saturdays back in the mix during Christmas season or possibly during a general election. Most that are oppose to the 5 day seem to be more worried working a little harder one day a week. We are not doing medical surgery, arresting a felon, or carrying a ruck sack in the Mountains of Afghanistan. This job isn’t that difficult… We are putting paper in a box.
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Why don’t they just go to one day a week If you need something faster call fedex or ups. That would save lots of money. I lived in the boonies in Alaska and we got mail only 1 day a week by plane. If the weather was bad, we just had to wait another week. We still lived. I think one day a week is more than enough.
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