US Postal Service Ends Saturday Delivery in August

The United States Postal Service says it will stop delivering letters on Saturdays beginning in August, the agency announced.

Package delivery, which has seen growth in recent years as online purchasing booms, will continue on Saturdays when the plan is implemented. The plan could save the USPS $2 billion a year, according to the report.

USPS officials said that fewer letters are being delivered because of email, but that the number of packages being delivered has risen since 2010. Congress likely will have the last say on the plan.

The volume of First Class mail has declined sharply since 2008 as more people pay their bills on line, Postmaster General Patrick Donahue said. Last year the postal service had a $15.9 billion loss and defaulted on its pension plan contributions. USPS has also reached its borrowing limit, he said.

“It’s put a tremendous financial pressure on the postal service,” he said.

The postal service previously had cut costs be eliminating 193,000 jobs and consolidating 200 mail processing centers. The service cutback will enable the postal service to cut more jobs, which Donahoe says can be done through retirements, buyouts and routine attrition.

“We take no tax dollars. We do not want tax dollars,” he said.

The six-month lead time will allow businesses to adjust their production and delivery schedules, Donahoe said.