Residential Mail - Do You Need Saturday Delivery?

[MossRoad]

Heck, I'd be in favor of Mon, Wed, Fri delivery. We only get 4 bills a month, some insurance correspondences, lots of college promos for my oldest kid, and the rest is solicitations. When we go on vacation we just go to the post office and fill out the little form to hold it until X date and then they deliver it all at once when we return. It has never failed.

Most packages come UPS or Fed-X and they are delivered to the back door or held at the respective offices for pick up.

 

[dave1949]

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We do, however have pick-up at the post offices until noon on Saturdays.
It is a must as not all folks can access the PO during normal work hours.

Also access is needed for registered mail, weighing packages as well as foreign mailings.

As to delivery, I happen to know that mail revenues are going down due to online billing and payments as well as fliers now all being delivered by private contractors.

Maybe the postal service has just priced themselves out of business?

Just this last week our delivery gal was able to finish her run at about 10:30 due to lack of mail.

The first-class letters are falling off rapidly here too. We pay 42 or 44 cents (can't remember the current rate) for a first-class letter. E-billings and email have really cut into the numbers and people don't send as many greeting cards as before I think.

Considering what 50 cents will buy in a store these days, I don't find the postal rate to be excessive by comparison.

For many people, if they couldn't get their mail at home or fairly close to home, it would be an incentive to use the mail even less. It wouldn't be at all convenient for me to go the post office 9 miles away with limited parking to pick up mail even if I only went one or two times per week. It's also a lot less efficient for an entire neighborhood to drive to the post office than to have one postal carrier drive through the neighborhood.

The best products we get through the mail are NetFlix movie rentals, 1-800-Pet-Meds and a couple magazines.
Dave.

 

[mburke121]

I'll give up my Saturday delivery (and Tuesday and Thursday)to help fund the costs of the new health care bill that just passed the house.

 

[dcyrilc]

I'll give up my Saturday delivery (and Tuesday and Thursday)to help fund the costs of the new health care bill that just passed the house.

That would probaly significantly increase the cost of mail delivery as the postal workers would have to go to salaried positions to offset the decreased hours and then they would need to hire more workers to handle the increased mail volumes on those remaining days. Welcome to the US Government.

 

['Bota Fan]

mercy on rte driver come Monday..w/new phone books etc.

Here, mail volume is heavy at the first of the week. By Thursday, it drops off dramatically. Saturday, the box is nearly empty. So yeah, cut out Saturday deliveries and beef up the service for Monday and Tuesday. :thumbsup:

Seems the Saturday mail carrier is a substitute most of the time, not our regular carrier. If it's done, there will be layoffs at USPS. As others point out, lots of better mouse traps have been built. Everyone has to compete in today's environment, including USPS.

 

[Alan L.]

Get rid of Saturday delivery. What are you gonna do with a bill you get on Saturday anyway?

 

[two_bit_score]

My mail is often delivered after 4pm on Saturdays. I wouldn't care if there were no mail delivery to my home on Saturdays, it could even be an improvement.
Dave.

Actually, we should have JUST Sat. residential delivery. Most people don't need mail during the week as we are busy then anyway. Saturday only delivery will save a lot of time and maybe we could lay off a lot of overpaid postal employees. If you live in a rural area nda have a roadside mailbox and work during the day your mail is subject to theft while you're gone so Sat. only would allow you to have more secure delivery.

Sat. only delivery would probably save us a lot of tax money with the postal service which we will need when we start subsidizing healthcare.

 

[MikePA]

Please, do not turn this thread into a healthcare debate. Not only is it discussing politics, which violates TBN Terms Of Service, it's nice coming to a discussion forum where the topic is not discussed.

Regarding the question of Saturday delivery, I wouldn't miss it.

 

[Travelover]

Agreed, Saturday delivery wouldn't be missed here. Mail is almost an anachronism.

 

[jinman]

What about Express Mail and Priority Mail? Wouldn't that throw a monkey wrench into that system? How about certified mail? What about regular mail on Mon/Wed/Fri and no change to Certified, Express and Priority Mail. Would it reduce the workload to only deliver Certified, Express and Priority mail 6 days a week, or would it increase the workload to keep it separate? Wouldn't post offices become warehouses on the days mail wasn't delivered?

I guess my simple answer would be that I would not miss Saturday delivery, but I think post offices should stay open for those who need to do business there. I think a lot of postal money orders are still sold too. There's just lots more to the post office than first class mail and junk mail.

BTW: Our rural carriers are not perfect. Sometimes a substitute carrier will make mistakes and deliver the wrong mail. That being said, they are also so service oriented that they will drive down our driveway to our house to deliver packages. They toot their horn at the driveway, but if we don't come out right away, they bring the package up the steps on our deck to the front door and leave the package right there. I think our postal delivery is top notch.