Tech, costs led to dropping Sat. mail

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Come August, you won't have to make that trip to the mailbox on Saturdays. The U.S. Postal Service plans to pull the plug on Saturday delivery this summer.
   
Karen Richards worked for the U.S. Postal Service nearly 41 years.

While the National Association of Letter Carriers president says ending Saturday delivery is a "disastrous idea that would have a profoundly negative effect on the postal service and millions of customers," Richards says Saturday deliveries never made much sense to her.  

"We have tried to get rid of Saturday delivery for years. It would save the post office lots of money," said Richards.

The Postal Service projects it would save about $2 billion each year.

Technology and legacy costs have kept the Service in the red, with some questioning its ability to survive long-term.

"I don't think they will, with all the emails and the Facebooking and everything else. Then the competition with UPS, etc.," said postal customer Jim Holyfield.
 
Under the proposal outlined by Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe Wednesday, Saturday delivery service would end but package and post office box deliveries would continue.  

But the $2 billion in savings is a drop in the bucket compared to the nearly $16 billion in losses in 2012 -- a number that tripled from the year before. That is on top of $15 billion in annual cost cuts since 2006.

The financial problems have less to do with less mail and more to do with legacy costs, specifically retiree health care.

Congress makes USPS set aside funds to cover future retiree health care costs to the tune of $5.5 billion a year, drawing down what little cash the postal service has on hand.

"If we have a US Postal Service, it won't be like the one I grew up with, 10 years from now," said Grand Valley State University Professor Paul Isley.

He said the Postal Service's future business model may be up to you.

"The key comes to the American public. We need to decide whether this is a service that we want -- and if it is, it may get to a point where we have to have it subsidized," said Isley.