The U.S. Postal Service is formally proposing several cost-saving changes that include eliminating Saturday deliveries. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the financially struggling Postal Service is also looking at closing some branches and installing more self-serve kiosks in grocery stores and elsewhere.
Grassley says, “Mail volume’s going way down because of the use of email and other methods of paying bills and communicating, so we’re going to have to align the Postal Service for the future and not rely totally on the past.” Before the U.S.P.S. can dump Saturday service, it’ll need Congressional approval — as it’s federal law to deliver the mail six days a week. Grassley says he doesn’t know if he’d support that proposal or not as he never thought it would come to this point.
“I know it’s been talked about off and on for more than a few years,” Grassley says. “I thought maybe it was just something that was thrown out there but now I know it’s going to get serious consideration and I know I’m going to have to study it thoroughly.” Grassley, a Republican, says he talked to a group of postal workers over the weekend who supported the elimination of Saturday service.
Grassley says, “I was, quite frankly, a little surprised because normally you get from the postal workers a feeling that it’s going to cut back on their work opportunities, job creation and things of that nature.” The Postal Service saw mail volume drop nearly 13-percent last fiscal year and posted losses of $3.8 billion.