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ReprintThe U.S. Postal Service announced plans to cancel Saturday delivery of first-class mail beginning in August, the agency announced Feb. 6.
The effort is expected to save the USPS approximately $2 billion annually.
Area post offices were not able to comment on the announcement, but a handful of Cass County residents said the change wouldn’t have much effect on them personally and understand the financial stress the agency has suffered for a number of years.
Randy Terwilliger of Pleasant Hill said that the loss of jobs will be a shame.
“It’s one of those necessary evils, unfortunately,” he said. “So many people don’t use personal mail anymore that they can just mail their bills on a Friday or a Monday if they still do it that way.”
In their past fiscal year, the USPS recorded a $15.9 billion loss.
“The Postal Service has a responsibility to take the steps necessary to return to long-term financial stability and ensure the continued affordability of the U.S. Mail,” Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a statement.
Marissa Scott of Creighton said she is happy that she will no longer receive bills on the weekend, but that she believed the change to five-day delivery would likely add more stress during the holidays.
“It never fails. Saturday is bill day,” she said. “Hopefully they come back to (six-day delivery) during the holidays because I know a lot of people do holiday mailing on the weekends.”
The USPS said it will still deliver packages six days a week, and that they do plan to keep post offices open and will deliver mail to P.O. boxes for pick-up on Saturdays.
By maintaining a six-day package delivery schedule, the post office said that their primary concerns related to switching to a five-day mail delivery schedule have been addressed, such as the delivery of pharmaceuticals.
The agency reported that USPS’s shipping and package business has experienced a 14 percent growth in volume over the last two years.
