Politics & Government

Post Office Ending Saturday Mail Delivery

Packages and prescriptions will still be delivered on Saturday, but not letters, bills or catalogues, according to reports.

Just 10 days after raising postage rates, the United States Postal Service announced today that Saturday mail delivery will cease, effective in August, according to a report from NBC News.

The latest cost-cutting measure is projected to save the postal service approximately $2 billion a year, Postmaster General and CEO Patrick Donahue told the Huffington Post.

According to a statement released by the U.S. Postal Service, once implemented during August of 2013, mail delivery to street addresses will occur Monday through Friday. Packages will continue to be delivered six days per week. Mail addressed to P.O. boxes will continue to be delivered on Saturdays. Post offices currently open on Saturdays will remain open on Saturdays. 

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According to USA Today, the Postal Service reported an annual loss of $15.9 billion in November, tripling the $5.1 billion loss in 2011. Approximately $11 billion of the loss is tied to labor expenses, primarily from a law passed by Congress in 2006 that requires the Postal Service to fully prepay the retirement health care fund for the next 75 years by 2016. 

According to the statement from the postal service, the department will continue to develop cost-saving proposals, but it also asks Congress to make the post office's budget a top priority.

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Taxpayer money currently does not fund the post office's operation expenses. Instead, the office relies on postage and service expenses to function.


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