US Postal Service Mulls 5-Day Delivery

A U.S. Postal worker moves boxes of letters and cards at the U.S. Post Office sort center December 15, 2008 in San Francisco, California. The Postmaster General testified to Congress that USPS might have to cut one day from its delivery schedule, due to r Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

NEW YORK—The U.S Postal Service (USPS) may be forced to cut a day of service, bringing the number of service days down to five, because of the reduction of mail volume since the economic downturn.

In addition, USPS may also cut its day-of-mail service due to low demand.

Postmaster General John E. Potter made these comments in front of a U.S. Senate subcommittee.

Interestingly, it looks likely that Saturday will remain as a day of service, while Tuesday might be cut. This is because Tuesday is the lightest mail volume day for USPS, and Potter said in his report that “The ability to suspend delivery on the lightest delivery days, for example, could save dollars in both our delivery and our processing and distribution networks. I do not make this request lightly, but I am forced to consider every option given the severity of our challenge.”

However, he also said the cut would not happen immediately and that the agency was working to cut costs through other means.

The USPS suffered losses of $2.8 billion last year, and Potter said that the post office “experienced a net loss of $6 billion or more this fiscal year.”

A total of 202 billion items were shipped through USPS last year. While that number seems large, it represented a drop of 9 billion items compared to the year before, the steepest volume decline in the history of the USPS.

Potter said that 2009 could also represent the first year that revenue for the USPS could actually decrease, despite annual rate increases.

Potter also requested Congress’ help with health and other benefits for retirees.