Postmaster General wants to stop Tuesday Delivery of Mail

[johnlal]

The Postmaster General of the United States has asked Congress to cut out one day of delivery service. He proposes that there shall be no mail delivery on Tuesdays. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/01/28/national/w115921S52.DTL

The Postal Service has imposed rate increases ANNUALLY for the past several years. The latest increase was blamed on the higher price of gasoline. Guess what? When gas prices went down, postal rates didn't.

The postal service caught national attention a few years ago for excesses and abuse in executive compensation. One of the most notorious abuses was the "relocation allowance" paying tens of thousands of dollars to Postal officials who moved a few blocks over from their previous residence. One official received a $50,000.00 moving allowance.

The Postmaster General cites operating losses as the reason for his request. Guess what? The same Postmaster General, John Potter, and several of the senior postal service officers, were granted huge raises last year. An act of Congress removed postal officials from the Federal pay cap that restricts the pay of government officials. Their pay raise was made retroactive to January 2007.

Potter, the 72nd postmaster general, got the biggest increase. His salary jumped nearly 39 percent to $258,840, up from $186,600 in 2007. That’s an increase of $72,240 and the maximum pay allowed to Postal Service officers. Potter’s pay had been at the same level as that of cabinet officers, a reflection of the days when the postmaster general was a cabinet post. Cabinet members will be paid $191,300 this year, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

The raises last year were supposed to somehow make the postal service competitive with UPS and FedEx. Now, a year later, they're saying that they can't compete. Does that mean we can get our money back?

The Postal Service has already cut services near my office. Two mail recepticles near my building have been removed, and I have to go further to mail letters. Now they're saying we can't get mail at all on Tuesdays. I think about all of the legal rights and procedures that are dependent on the postal service. The validity of eviction notices, service of process by mail, timely offer and acceptance of contracts, etc.

The United States Postal Service is part of the culture of corruption that has plagued our major banks and corporations. The upper executive compensation keeps going up as the business goes into the toilet. And who is made to suffer for their excesses? The consumer and the rank and file postal workers. This is just one more sign that the US is not the country it once was.

[atreides1]

1. Should be Saturday

The USPS could probably save more money if they stop Saturday deliveries, no more weekend differential pay.

Besides, the Tuesday after a federal holiday, most of which are on Monday, would be better as a delivery day.

[WI_DEM]

4. Actually Saturday is a busy day for mail, while Tuesday is among the slowest days of the week.

[indepat]

8. While Tuesday is indeed slow, it is not slow following a Monday Federal holiday and there are a

passel of Monday holidays. :P

[TahitiNut]

16. Tuesday is slow because almost no mail is picked up on Sunday.

Both due to business closure (mostly Sunday and 2nd Saturday) and due to the fact that mail delivery INCLUDES pick-up, Tuesday delivery is lowest. If the USPS stands down on Tuesday, watch Friday go huge.

[johnlal]

7. Is 6 days really too much to ask?

UPS does it. Fed Ex does it. There are a lot of businesses that can afford to stay open every day. What's wrong with the postal service?

[tammywammy]

21. But you pay much more for UPS and FedEx to deliver a letter

Than you do the USPS.

[johnlal]

22. Yes... but

Postage increases for the past several years were enacted to meet the cost of operation. They didn't pull those numbers out of thin air. Those numbers are supposed to represent what they need to charge to deliver the mail.

[Muttocracy]

19. why don't they just get rid of Mondays since so many Mondays are off anyway? nt

[DJ13]

2. I dont know about other regions, but here in Ca. Tues is local store ad day

As the other poster wrote above, Saturday would be a better day.

[samplegirl]

3. Wow...I know one angry Republican Mailman over this.

Yet he thought auto bailouts to be a bad idea. Now that its happening to him its a different story.

[Thirtieschild]

5. We never get much on Tuesday - been this way for at least 25 years.

In the days before the Internet, back when you relied on snail mail, I was passionate about genealogy, lived for the mail. Nothing of interest ever came on Tuesday, I figured because Tuesday's mail would have been mailed on Sunday, and nothing goes out then.

[valerief]

6. I was just talking about this with my Pak-Mail guy. He figured it would be Saturday. nt

[Hannah Bell]

9. they just want to privatize. i weep when i see our beautiful post office,

built during the depression, become shabbier & shabbier-looking, with contract carriers driving beat-up vehicles with bad paint jobs.

[CTyankee]

25. My local station was built in the Depression. It's a really nice brick federal style building.

The cornerstone has the info about when it was erected and who was Postmaster General of the U.S. at the time. It's just hard to access because you have to park on the street and it's busy and dangerous to cross.

[lunatica]

10. It would have been cool for them to get a two day 'weekend'

But there's a law that says they can't be closed three days in a row so they run into trouble on holidays which always fall on Friday or Monday (except July 4th)

Tuesday breaks up their week pretty well and it means one less day of bills and mailbox clogging fliers.

[SergeyDovlatov]

11. I don't care about Tuesday, but, please, keep saturday delivery

[grilled onions]

12. Bills May Arrive Later

Some companies barely send the bills out before they are due and a person scrambles to pay it without penalty. I know many seniors who get their meds by mail. Another days delay could mean a day without important meds. It doesn't seem like the Postal Service bigwigs are cutting back were the most bleeding is going on, like their bonus's,wages etc. Mail used to be a vital link between business and their customers and here,also, food ads hit the mail on Tuesdays. Sad to see this arrive in our lifetime.

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. And here is the address you can & should send comments to:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/opl/

The Office of Public Liaison is requesting feedback.

[Still Sensible]

14. I like the Tuesday idea, makes sense to me BUT

there should be an exception for delivery on every Tuesday following a Monday holiday.

[BattyDem]

15. If this passes, then Congress should also pass a bill that requires ...

credit card companies to extend the time between billing and payment due. Some of them cut it so damn close now that you have to rush a check in the mail as soon as you get the bill. Yes, I know ... I should switch to paying my bills online. However, that's not an option for a lot of people.

[Urban Prairie]

17. Mail is sorted thru machinery.

Both Saturday and Tuesday are bad ideas because some holidays fall on Monday. Three consecutive days of non-delivery will cause problems with processing, since ALL finalized mail to be delivered has to be automation processed and sorted at the same time, and may overload carriers on Wednesdays.

Wednesday is the best day, IMO.

[Muttocracy]

18. Making more than a Cabinet official? someone else would take that job for less. nt

[1]

20. ha! now every credit card company will change their payment dates to tuesday...

no mail delivery on tuesday? oops, you are now late.

your interest rate is now 300% and we just dropped your credit limit to $10 over what you currently owe.

[Contrary1]

23. The postal service should cut corners or adjust the postage rate

so that they don't go into the red. The problem is that Americans are a bit spoiled when it comes to mail delivery. I can't even start my car and back out of the driveway for what a stamp costs.

Australia, for example; does not deliver on Saturday. Also, their carriers do not pick up outgoing mail. So, every time a letter is posted, a trip to the post office is necessary.

[Serial Mom]

24. If I were a carrier I would hate Tuesdays to be stopped

you would work M, W, TH, F, S - off on SU and T!

so never 2 off days in a row except for Federal Holidays on Mondays, then those few days a year you would have 3 days off like everybody else (but 1 day different)!

Gotta be Saturdays - 95% of my mail on Saturdays is junk mail (while other days it is 90% junk). Marketing companies are the only companies keeping them in business.