No Mail On Tuesdays?

It could happen, according to what Postmaster General John E. Potter told Congress today. He wants lawmakers to lift the requirement that the USPS deliver mail six days a week.

If the change happens, that doesn’t necessarily mean an end to Saturday mail delivery. Previous post office studies have looked at the possibility of skipping some other day when mail flow is light, such as Tuesday.

The problem (at least for the Postal Service’s bottom line) seems to be the Internet, which has caused people to use “snail mail” less often.

Total mail volume was 202 billion items last year, over 9 billion less than the year before, the largest single volume drop in history. And, despite annual rate increases, Potter said 2009 could be the first year since 1946 that the actual amount of money collected by the post office declines.

Potter says the agency has cut costs by $1 billion per year since 2002, but that’s just not enough. So is it time to reduce service to five days a week?

By: Joel