USPS Customers Say Goodbye To Saturday Service
DALLAS (CBS 11 NEWS) - Though it seems we've had it for years, soon the post office delivering letters on Saturdays will soon go the way of the nickel beer.
Beginning in August, the USPS wants to cease home delivery of letters, but not packages or Express Mail. Also, post offices that are already operate on Saturdays will remain open.
Dallas users seem to empathize with the postal systems plight. "It doesn't bother me," says Dallas resident Brenda Lane, who tells CBS 11 News she understands things have changed with the postal service, and it needs to change, too. "I don't think one day will hurt us and if it will save them some money. They are so far in debt."
The post office has floated the notion of stopping Saturday letter delivery for a couple of years.
It has been hemorrhaging money, losing 16-billion in 2012.
Employee retirement and health care costs are expected to rise at the same time more people rely on e-mail instead of first-class letters.
Many Americans have seen the writing on the wall. "On the one hand it's an inconvenience, but it's understandable," said post office customer Andea Patronella.
"Certainly it's a problem. It's a convenience to have it delivered on the weekend, especially if it's a three day weekend... and they didn't deliver on a Monday."
Carolyn Brown said she'd find a way to cope. "I will miss it, but if we have to wait until Monday, we have to wait until Monday."
But small business owners, like Roger PetroRoy, a maker of holders for trumpet mutes, says it will hurt.
"Ebay says that my product must be shipped within three days of a sale. Now we just passed Martin Luther King Day on a Monday, and if they close down Saturday and Sunday as well, that's three days and that might put me in danger of infringing on that three day period."
Simo Tahiri says his electronics business depends on Ebay, too. "It's going to be a bad idea. I do most of the business on Saturday morning and I deal with Ebay and a bunch of deliveries, so that's going to be a big issue."
Package delivery is one USPS bright spot. Oddly enough a Uptown UPS store owner, someone you might consider a competitor, wishes the postal service well.
"We actually have a very good relationship with the USPS," said Bobby Jackson adding, "So we don't really see it as competition. We'd like think there's enough business out there for all of us."
Still, he hopes the tactic works. "If this is something that will keep them from having to raise postage rates again so soon, I think it's a good idea."
The Post Office believes the change will save it two-billion dollars a year. The plan must still be approved by Congress.
Also Check Out:
