Five Day Mail Delivery Woes

The United States Postal Service has been losing money in recent years. To counter this, a five day mail delivery schedule has been proposed. On May 6, 2010, Postmaster General John E. Potter re-emphasized the need for the United States Postal Service to cut back its delivery service to five days a week.

This proposal is not new. As far back as 1976, a five day mail delivery schedule was studied. The need then was not urgent enough to require more than study. The volume of first class mail has dropped dramatically in recent years due to the public's increased reliance upon electronic means of communication and bill payment. Shipping services like Priority Mail and Express Mail have increased in volume but not enough to offset the Postal Service's operating deficit.

History of Five and Six Day Mail Delivery
Six day mail delivery service has been a normal occurrence to some urban and rural residences since 1896. In some urban settings, mail was delivered two or more times a day until 1950.

A switch to a five day mail delivery schedule was contemplated in the late 1970's and early 1980's. By that time, most postal addresses except those in the most out of the way rural or inaccessible locations were enjoying six days of mail delivery per week.

In 1981, a Congressional regulation was enacted which made a six day a week mail delivery schedule a requirement. Since 1983, each year's appropriations bill includes a section which instructs the Postal Service to continue mail delivery at the level it had been in that year.

Obstacles to the Five Day Mail Delivery Schedule
The United States Postmaster General may recommend a switch to a five day delivery schedule but he can not implement it without Congress removing the section of the appropriations bill pertaining to what is known as "The 1983 Standard" of postal service. After that barrier has been removed, the Postal Regulatory Commission, the governing board overseeing the USPS, must make the final decision.

The American Postal Workers Union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, the National Association of Postal Supervisors, the National Association of Postmasters of the United States, and the National League of Postmasters as well as the National Newspaper Association opposes the switch from a six day to a five day mail delivery schedule.

According to the budget for fiscal year 2011 proposed by President Obama's administration, "The 1983 Standard" must be upheld for money to be placed into the Postal Service Fund. The budget proposal does include recognition of the serious financial condition the USPS is in.

Five Day Mail Delivery and Job Loss
On March 26, 1980, William F. Bolger who was the Postmaster General at that time reported to the House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. He noted the effects a five day mail delivery schedule would have. He instructed the Committee that fifteen to twenty thousand postal jobs could be terminated if the mail delivery schedule changed.

In the comment section of articles where this issue is being discussed, former and current postal carriers echo the statement that postal delivery and processing jobs will be lost. They speculate supervisory and management positions may not be. One number being mentioned in these comments is that possibly 45,000 rural and 25,000 urban mail carriers may be laid off as a result of the reduced work week. Temporary substitute carriers may be eliminated. An article by Kristi Jourdan in the Las Vegas Review-Journal stated 75,000 mail carrier positions might be lost across the country by a five day delivery schedule. Nevada alone may lose 400 of those positions.

Five Day Mail Delivery and Loss of Income
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the wage average for postal service mail carriers is $23.53 per hour for 2080 hours a year. Assuming the mail carrier would be working only 32 hours a week if Saturday delivery was eliminated, the carrier's annual salary would drop about $9788.

The BLS also states that there were 339,030 postal service mail carriers as of May 2009. Using those figures, the lost Saturday wages times the number of mail carriers amounts to a total of $3,318,588,374 the United States Postal Service would not have to pay its mail carriers. That is also the amount of money which will not be circulated back into the economy by the carriers and their families through their spending.

Five Day Mail Delivery and Priority Versus Express Mail
One thing a switch to a five day mail delivery schedule will do is affect one of the special services the Postal Service offers. Express Mail, those items intended to be delivered overnight, will not be affected.

Priority Mail is supposed to be a one to three day delivery option. A package sent on a Wednesday or Thursday via Priority Mail may not be received until Monday or Tuesday with a five day mail delivery schedule. For a sender to guarantee delivery of an item in three days, he will have to send the item on either a Monday or a Tuesday. This alone may persuade more online stores at places like eBay to opt for shipment by UPS, Fed Ex, or another package delivery service.

Five Day Mail Delivery and the Saturday Newspaper
Part of the reason the National Newspaper Association may be concerned over a switch to a five day mail delivery schedule has to do with the delivery of Saturday editions. Some of these newspapers are delivered via the USPS and not by delivery contractors hired by the newspaper.

A similar concern has been registered by direct marketers and those publishers who have magazines and newsletters delivered on Saturday. Their reason for a Saturday delivery is because the recipient is more likely to read the mailing soon after he retrieves it from the mailbox. On other days of the work week, a recipient may sort the mailing into a "read later" pile, concentrating only on those pieces of mail requiring immediate attention.

In responses to queries by the USPS to magazine publishers like Conde Nast Publications, ESPN Magazine, and Hearst Publications, the publishers indicated a lead time of six months to a year would be necessary for them to rearrange editorial, printer, and distribution schedules.

Five Day Mail Delivery, Christmas, and Other Holidays
Veterans Day (November 11), Christmas Day, and New Year's Day are three of the ten holidays observed by the United States Postal Service. Most of the postal holidays are observed on Mondays or, in the case of Thanksgiving, Thursday. These three holidays occur on a different day of the week each year. If Christmas is on a Friday or Monday, there will be a three day postal holiday weekend. Six of the ten postal holidays will be three day postal holiday weekends if a five day mail delivery schedule becomes reality.

Five Day Mail Delivery and the Human Factor
While many postal customers surveyed do not seem to be concerned about the loss of Saturday delivery, the same may not be true for the elderly, shut-ins, and remote rural populations. Those who are unconcerned about the loss of Saturday delivery argue that the internet and the ability to use cell phones for texting make this a non-issue.

When I lived five miles from the closest town, I did not have a vehicle, driver's license, or internet access. Receiving mail, even junk mail, on Saturday was a small bit of excitement to an otherwise humdrum day. It was communication with the outside world.

Not every American has access to the internet. According to Google.com, 75.9 percent of the population of the United States had access to the internet in 2008. In a 2009 population survey, the U.S. Census Bureau found that of those responding, 68.7 percent used the internet in their homes.

While those percentages may have increased, there are still some who either can not gain access or who are reluctant to embrace the technology. Those who are in their 70's or older, like my mother, may have never even operated a computer. In an October 2009 population survey, the U.S. Census Bureau found that only 63 percent of respondents 55 years old or older accessed the internet from their home or other public places providing internet service.

Some may not be able to afford a computer or monthly internet service fees. In households with underemployed or unemployed adults, one of the first frill items to be eliminated is often internet service.

To understand the point of view of those who have integrated electronic bill payment and communications into their lives, read Julia Bodeeb's article Mail Delivery Cut to Only Five Days a Week?

October 1, 2010, is the date in which five day mail delivery will begin if all hurdles can be cleared. Will this drastic change bring the USPS out of its revenue shortfalls? Or will it cause postal customers to seek alternatives to using standard mail delivery more than ever?

Sources:
http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2010/pr10_049.htm May 6, 2010, Press Release
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28897426/ History
http://www.postalconsumers.org/uploads/1/CRS_Day_Delivery_Study.pdf Congressional Research Service: The U.S. Postal Service and Six-Day Delivery: Issues for Congress
http://www.nnaweb.org/?/nnaweb/content01/1388/ NNA Opposition
http://postalemployeenetwork.com/news/2010/05/apwu-urges-postal-commission-to-save-saturday-service/ APWU Opposes Five Day Mail Delivery
http://www.nalc.org/images/FY2011AdminBudgetProposalUSPS.pdf Administration Budget Proposal for USPS
http://www.lvrj.com/news/postal-workers-oppose-five-day-week-at-hearing-93394669.html Las Vegas Postal Commission Public Hearing
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes435052.htm Salary Scale for Mail Carriers
http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=it_net_user_p2&idim=country:USA&dl=en&hl=en&q=internet+usage+in+the+united+states Google statistics on internet usage
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/computer/2009.html U.S. Census Bureau Statistics on Internet Usage