The U.S. Postal Service announced today that it is planning to end its mail collection and distribution on Saturdays. Beginning August 5th there will only be a Monday through Friday delivery.
This only applies to mail, packages will still be delivered. However, everything else, from magazines to Netflix movies, will only arrive on weekdays. According to this Washington Post article it is estimated to save over $2 billion to the mail agency, which recently has greatly suffered, losing $15.9 billion in the previous fiscal year. In addition, many jobs will be lost. There will be an excess amount of letter carriers, clerks, and mail sorters and any city letter carriers that currently receive overtime pay would no longer receive it.
With the continuous increase in electronic mail, this decision comes at no surprise. More and more Americans are relying on the internet to pay their bills and they can receive magazines directly onto their tablets and smartphones.
The U.S. Postal Service will be breaking the tradition of delivering mail six days a week that has been implemented for many decades. For the past 30 years, Congress has expressed its desire to have mail be delivered six days a week. This current stopgap measure is expected to be left out of any future spending measures lawmakers approve. It terminates on March 27th, and at this time Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe believes that support will be on the side of the U.S. Postal Service and Congress will be forced to comply.
Do you think this is a smart decision by the U.S. Postal Service? Do the pros outweigh the cons?
You can read more about this issue here.
3 comments:
The problem of the USPS in the modern era is great, (so great that we had to write our AP Lang Synthesis essay on it). I think that much like Savanna's earlier post this week about automating the bridge, we are finding that times are changing and thus jobs too must evolve. Making the USPS more efficient seems to be a good choice, but hopefully new jobs will be able to make up for these lost and decrease the unemployment. I agree with the decision mostly because of email; since packages won't be affected, that's good for delivering gifts during Christmas time and birthdays.
I agree with Kathryn. People may want to cling onto past traditions and services such as the USPS and its well-known, typical schedule, but it's effectiveness has drastically declined and it just isn't profitable anymore. The changes that are being made are necessary to help save and maintain the postal service although many people will become unemployed. However, with the great advancements in other developed/developing technology that is overcoming "snail-mail," jobs may be created that can balance out the resulting unemployment. Furthermore, as Kathryn mentioned, the changes are being made for regular which has been heavily replaced by e-mail; packages, on the other hand will not be affected. Overall, I think this decision was a good idea.
I think this is definitely a step forward towards more efficiency in communication. Even though we may look upon "snail-mail" with fondness, it is important to continue moving forward and to let go of traditions that can't keep up with the progression of society. It's also key that the USPS only cuts back on mail deliveries and not package deliveries since online shopping seems to be a rising trend. I'm hopeful that the USPS will find an innovative new way to apply its resources to more modern forms of communication. Also, I am curious about how private delivery services such as UPS or FedEx are holding up. Are they making good profits, or are they suffering just as much as the USPS?
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