Saturday mail delivery to fade

The United States Postal Service (USPS) announced on Wednesday, Feb. 6, that Saturday delivery of first-class mail is set to halt in August.

The change does not affect the delivery of packages, mail-order medicines or priority mail.

In Lind and Ritzville, the main change is that residential customers will not receive typical Saturday mail. Both of the post offices will remain open to the public on Saturdays and post office boxes will be available for pickups as well.

The five-day delivery schedule for mail is not expected to bring about any changes in employment for the local post offices. Employees must still work on Saturdays to deliver packages and priority mail, keeping the usual postmen with an average workload and an employee in the office.

USPS made the decision to cut a day off of the delivery schedule in an effort to save funds and keep the service from plummeting into an even deeper financial debt. After the change is implemented, the Postal Service expects the Saturday cut to save approximately $2 billion annually.

According to the fact sheet available on the USPS website, the Postal Service recorded a $15.9 billion loss during its last fiscal year. The organization is hoping to return to financial stability with the changes, as it cannot afford to sustain more losses.

The USPS organization made the decision to continue delivering packages on Saturdays as retail sales and e-commerce continue to grow. By maintaining a six-day delivery schedule for packages, customers can still receive necessary pharmaceutical drugs that are delivered to the residence, as well as other packages needed in a timely manner.

The USPS released results from a survey on Feb. 14 revealing that 80 percent of Americans support the six-day package, five-day mail delivery schedule. The survey, conducted by Ipsos, included responses from 1,002 U.S. residents ages 18 and over. The complete list of results from the survey are available on the USPS website.

For more information about the potential delivery changes that will go into affect in August, visit http://usps.com or contact the local post offices.