Washington, D.C.—The U.S. Postal Service announced that effective the week of Aug. 5 it will stop Saturday delivery of most mail, including periodicals, first-class and standard mail, which is used most often for direct-mail advertising.
Packages, mail-order medicines, priority and express mail will still be delivered on Saturdays, and post offices that now offer Saturday hours will continue to do so, according to the Postal Service. Package deliveries have increased 14% since 2010.
“The Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and responds to the financial realities resulting from America's changing mailing habits,” said Patrick R. Donahoe, postmaster general and Postal Service CEO. “We developed this approach by working with our customers to understand their delivery needs and by identifying creative ways to generate significant cost savings.”
The cut in Saturday delivery, made in the absence of congressional action and approval, is expected to save the service $2 billion a year.
Over the past six years, the Postal Service has lost $41.0 billion, including $15.9 billion in its last fiscal year, as users have increasingly turned to electronic messages and online transactions. In recent years, it has cut hours of service at about half of its 26,000 post offices and trimmed its workforce by 35%.
