The US Postal Service's Office of the Inspector General has a blog called "Pushing the Envelope". Well, one of their recent posts was about the proposal to cut Saturday delivery. The neat thing about their post was that they didn't talk about how awful cutting the mail service was going to be, but focused more on whether Saturday was the right day to eliminate from our postal well.
At first Saturday seems the logical choice. Then we would have mail-free weekends, but delivery Monday-Friday. What could be so awful about that? Well, when you get down to it..there are a lot of reasons Saturday might not be best. First is that many families arent home during delivery times M-F. Which means packages are often taken back to the Post Office and have to be picked up when they are open. Having Saturday delivery allows the postal customer to have the item re-delivered on that day. A day when they can schedule to be home to recieve it. This was the first big..wow. I had never thought about it because there is almost always someone home to get my packages. AND unless it needs to be signed for..my postal lady leaves it on the porch. (You can do that when you live in the boonies) But for people who work during the week, Saturday is the best option.
Second, is that two consecutive days without delivery (presumably the PO would still hold Saturday open hours..) would allow for a bit of congestion as far as mail is concerned. I am not sure of the numbers, but I would imagine that the families who aren't home during the week...probably do most of their package mailing on Saturdays. Without any delivery happening, all the mail that was shipped in on Friday would sit. As would all the mail that customers bring in. Which means harder work for the employees.
Thirdly, (and least important in the decision in my eyes) is that most advertisers wait for Saturday to mail their ads. That way customers have more time to read them. The OIG of the USPS also mentions magazines, but I always get mine in the middle of the week..so I don't know how big of an issue that would be. Then again..this wouldn't bother me, but it sure would bother an advertiser.
So now I ask you. Cutting a day in the delivery is real..it is happening and I don't think there is anything that will stop it. BUT..is Saturday the right day? I really want know your answers. And if you aren't comfortable telling in the comments, feel free to email me your answer. Tell me which day you would cut and why.
