It´s about time. Can you say "anachronism"?

Should have been done years ago.

Works for me. Now make those goob congresscritters start paying for their own mail, and you might have something. Also, ditch the unions. ;)

Fine with me. All I get is ads and bills anyway.

That´s fine. Might I suggest cutting Tuesday and Thursday, too.

And are you going to cut the employees pay by one-sixth?

That´s great!

Now can we get rid of some of that really annoying bulk mail, please? On Tuesdays we get something called the "Red Plum" which is the most irritating piece of mail EVER. I don´t care how you pick it up, at least four things fall out. For me the Red Plum heads straight to the trash...I detest it. I´ll bet the carriers hate it, too.

Exactly my thoughts #2. Having family members who have worked in the Postal Service I can state without a doubt its union has led this organization to its ruin. E-Mail has contributed, without a doubt, but the unions refusal to change and the internal management is so hogtied by it, it was always doomed to fail.

In spite of all its other problems, the P.O. has been doing a superior job of improving and expanding its package delivery service the last couple years.

I make a small electronic product that fits inside their smallest ´Priority Mail´
box, and can get it anyhere in the US in 3 days max, for $ 5.80, and that includes electronic tracking from the second the clerk scans it in.

For faster deliveries, I can tuck that box inside an ´Express Mail´ padded envelope and if I get it to my local P.O. by 11 AM, it is to any US destination by the end of the following day, for under 20 bucks.

UPS and FedEx have priced themselves out fo the reach of small businesses with that send more than the occasional package anymore.

They couldn´t see this coming years ago when e mail was first starting? Too busy negotiating contracts and pension plans for their workers.

The USPS has plumbed the depths for decades but perhaps the most emblematic snafu was the stamp vending machine. It saved long waits in line and issued receipts for record-keeping. It also probably cut down on labor hours by counter staff (no doubt that was a red flag).

Suddenly this convenience was yanked out of post offices with officials moaning about maintenance costs. Poor dears. All machines require occasional maintenance - ask any airline. And so, a symbol of efficiency and 24 hour access got the bum´s rush in favor of...waiting in line while Hilda in front of you takes 15 minutes to address and mail her package.

The USPS is a juicy target but they have only themselves to blame.

Imagine a private company deciding that the solution to their problems is to cut services and raise prices! But that´s the Postal Service´s solution every time.

#8, the flat rate mail is a good deal. Unfortunately for the Post Office´s financial bottom line, it is highly subsidized and unsustainable without taxpayer help or overpriced services in other areas.

But prices will go up and pensions will be funded. For the additional money, Americans will get less service. Soon, Congress will just appropriate money to the Post Office to fund government employees and their pensions, and Federal Express or UPS will deliver the mail at our expense.

We haven´t gotten anything important on a Saturday for eons. It was our impression that the processing of everything but junk mail came to a screeching halt on Friday and mail that would have been put on the trucks and Saturday-delivered in the past was held until Monday.

I bet they´ll get paid as if they were still making Saturday delivery.

Maybe letting them furnish their own socks could cut some from the budget. I understand furnishing a work uniform but socks!? And any time I had to wear career apparel (savings and loan years ago) we had to pay for ALL of it. Do postal employees have to do that? Nope, they´re union.

Back in my day, when we had 9 planets, the USPS delivered on Sunday too. In fact, if you lived in a large city, the Postal Dept. would make regular rounds of mail boxes and you could often mail something and have someone receive it the same day within the same city...almost like...email?

Genius´ I tell you. This idea has been on the table for at least 50 years. Maybe forced economic decisions is a way to wake up the dead head politicians and bureaucrats.

quic history lesson for you people.
When the postal workers strike took place in 1970, in NJ and NYC, President Nixon could have fired the workers. The strike was in violation of federal law.
Instead, he created a separate postal service, and workers were given broad collective bargaining rights. And if contract negotiations didn´t work, they were given interest arbitration. (Interest arbitration means a neutral arbitrator writes the union contract.)
This proposed change in delivery has a financial impact on individual carriers and delivery drivers, as well as rural delivery drivers. (There are three separate bargaining units, with contracts covering each of the groups.)
I expect the postal service will have to buy its way out of saturday delivery. That will make the savings symbolic, more than substantive.

lemme get this straight...
the business plan currently is:
"lose money on every delivery"

the revised business plan is
"lose money on every deliver and less service"

Do they teach this at HBS?

If they really wanted to save some $$$$$$$$ how about charging junk mailings with first class rates. Kill 2 birds with one stone as they say...... 1) less mail to deliver and 2) more profit to offset costs.