No Saturday mail delivery and other drastic options

Here in Hooterville our Post Office closes at noon on Wednesdays and is only open for 2 hours on Saturdays...and the Saturday hours are new. Previously the only thing they did on Saturdays was to put mail in the PO boxes...not counter service and no home delivery of mail. Our post office has had this odd schedule since it first opened decades ago. This schedule has not caused any problems for us, or anyone else here, because we're used to it. Sure, it can be a little irritating if you don't make it to the post office by noon on Wednesday or if you're expecting something that doesn't arrive on Friday so you know you're not going to get it until Monday...but it's not a make-or-break issue. If the USPS can save a significant amount of money and jobs but cutting their hours, they should. BTW, our shipping obligations on Ebay are based on business days. We used UPS, too, and never ship on Saturdays.

I too sell online periodically. I need my merchandise immediately. The rates are high as it is. Maybe they should cut back on the pay rate. I know people making well over $20.00 per hour to deliver mail. Is that really necessary? I am not saying that this is not a stressful job at all but in these tight money strapping times we need to look at the bigger picture. Priority shipping cost is outrageous. If they cut back then they have have to add days to be able to receive mail and sent mail. We have a post office open 7 days of week which is cool because I can take my mail there on a Sunday to be out on Monday. No one wants adjust their pay and then they complain when they lose their jobs or get laid off. AS the economy turns we must turn to just to compete. All I know is that I need all the days I can get to ship out and have things shipped in..

With deficits as bad as they are, the USPS could save 3.5 million dollars just by cutting out Saturday. I understand you have a business to run, you would just have to let people know that some deliveries will take a day longer or use FedEx or UPS.

I sell on the booksites and I also depend on the USPS. Although it will be an inconvenience not to have Saturday service, that is outweighed by the fact that Media Mail is much less expensive than anything I can get from the private sector. Also, the post office is very efficient. I send out a thousand packages a year and have had less than five boxes over the last five years that were lost or damaged. (I used UPS briefly and had 3 problems almost immediately) The Washington Post has been reporting a lot lately about the post office problems. Although the post office is self sufficient and does not depend upon taxpayer money (except for absentee ballots and mail for the blind) postal employees are still federal employees. The Postal Reform Act of 2006 forces the Post Office to prepay five years of healthcare premiums for its employees. So healthcare is at the root of some of the post office problems. The other problem is the less expensive forms of mail. If every package the post office handled were First Class, they would be in better shape. (In other words my Media Mail packages would have to go Priority Mail and would cost at least twice as much) I've thought about writing to my congressman and senators and asking them to look into what can be done about changing the 2006 Postal Reform Act but I have to read up on it some more. The fact that the Post Master General is giving interviews and drawing attention to this act may point to change.

I know it is going to be a pain in the butt...but the post office is loosing too much money. Something has to be done. Just let your customers know that you can't ship out on saturday unless they want you to send it UPS or Fedex. All the rest of the sellers will have to make adjustments for it too. A lot of businesses will have to.

The USPS is failing and they're going to have to make some major changes if they want to remain viable. Knocking out Saturday service may be one of the changes. Afraid, Teamrose, you may be using UPS or FedEx more.

Not everything is just about you. Nothing like having other people subsidize you Saturday mail delivery so you can mail on Saturday. Look I am not trying to be personal, but you did kind of make it personal. I know others use Saturday delivery, but others do not. It is not fair that everyone will have to pay more for postage so those that cannot wait until Monday to mail package will have the ability to mail on Saturday. Any way there is not any mail on Sunday, what do you do then if you make a sell on Ebay, wait until Monday.