Challenge
Mail volume deliveries no longer cover the costs of a six-day delivery schedule.
Solution
Moving to a five-day delivery schedule would significantly reduce our costs with minimal disruption to customers.
Throughout 2010, the Postal Service sought to engage its stakeholders — including its customers, regulators, Congress, and the American people — about altering the frequency of delivery to a five-day-a-week schedule. We are currently required to deliver to more than 150 million addresses six days a week at a cost of almost $30 billion per year. Reducing delivery days to 5 days per week will substantially decrease our highest cost activity and better match costs with declining volumes.
On March 30, based upon extensive feedback from our customers and analysis of impacts to the Postal Service, we submitted a filing to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) regarding plans to make this important transition.
Mail volumes are generally at their lowest on Saturdays and more than a third of U.S. businesses are closed on Saturdays. A national Gallup Poll found that businesses and households believed Saturday would be the least disruptive day to eliminate mail delivery.
Indeed, the same Gallup survey showed that two-thirds of Americans would rather have delivery days reduced than have increases in postage or have the government subsidize the Postal Service’s losses with taxpayer funds. Reducing street delivery to five days would help rebalance postal operations with the needs of today’s customers, while saving the Postal Service more than $3 billion a year, and reduce our energy use and carbon emissions.
Nearly all Saturday mail operations would continue even if we transition to a five-day delivery schedule. Post Offices would remain open on Saturdays, access to P.O. boxes would continue, Express Mail would continue to be delivered seven days a week, and incoming mail would still be processed. Only Saturday street delivery would be suspended.
In order for the five-day delivery plan to become reality, Congress must discontinue an existing legislative impediment. In the past six months, the Postal Service has taken important steps toward this goal. In addition to filing the five-day delivery plan with the PRC, the Postal Service is preparing for implementation and has taken every opportunity to demonstrate the importance to Congress of transitioning to a five-day delivery schedule as a vital part of strengthening the financial condition of the Postal Service.
Public Opinion Regarding Delivery Frequency
Source: Gallup Poll June 17-18, 2009
The Postal Service delivers to more than 150 million delivery points on a typical workday.
