Delivering the Future: a Balanced Approach
Five-Day Delivery is Part of the Solution

Chapter 1 - Aggressive plan to ensure future viability

Five days of delivery, six days of service

While several steps must be taken to fully address the revenue gap, five-day delivery is one of the Postal Service’s best options to reduce costs and partially offset unprecedented mail volume and revenue declines, with Saturday being the best day to eliminate carrier delivery to street addresses.

Why Saturday? It has the week’s lowest daily volume, and more than a third of U.S. businesses are closed Saturday. Most businesses and households surveyed in a national Gallup Poll indicated Saturday would be the least disruptive day to eliminate mail delivery. That opinion was reinforced by recent Postal Service market research.

It also would be less disruptive and more efficient for the Postal Service and its customers if mail were delivered five consecutive days, followed by no delivery on two consecutive weekend days, rather than to close on a day during the typical work week.

Since Post Offices will remain open on Saturday, customers will have the same access to products and services they do today.

And by eliminating Saturday delivery to street addresses, the Postal Service can capture annual savings of about $3 billion. This savings projection factors in a reduction in mailings as a result of the change.

The Postal Service has not rashly pursued a change to five-day delivery. It is a critical and necessary change that will result in substantial savings in work hours, fuel, and maintenance costs, without compromising customer service.