Just to ask, are people really concerned with getting mail on Saturdays?

[RB TexLa]

I understand people having more concern about the post office being open on Saturdays, but I'm having a hard time understanding why the people in the local news preview seem very upset at the thought of not having their mail delivered on Saturdays.

[Skink]

1. It's just another day I don't get mail.

[Poiuyt]

2. I'm fine with no mail on Saturday

Most of my communications are by email, and most of my bill paying and banking is done online.

[depakid]

3. Takes some getting used to....

[sandnsea]

4. I think the post office is closed on Saturday

The only time I would be upset is if I desperately needed money and was waiting for a check. Otherwise who gives a crap about waiting 2 days to get bills.

[RB TexLa]

7. I believe you if you say so. I can't think of the last time I had to go to the post office

on any day of the week.

[SoCalNative]

12. They're not closed on Saturday

in my city.

[Contrary1]

17. Depends on where you live...

Our local post office is open on Saturday until 1pm. Other locations around the city have different hours. The one at the nearest Meijer store is open until 5.

But to answer the question in the op...no, makes no difference to me if I get mail delivered on Saturday or not.

[madokie]

29. until 11 here

[Touchdown]

5. It may seem benign, but it really means a lot of people will lose their jobs.

Not really cool.

[me b zola]

6. That and it seems like the republicans way to "reform"

Chop away little by little until they shout that private industry would do a better job of it, that is until they actually get their mitts on it.

[blueamy66]

33. Yes, I have a good friend that is a mail carrier.

But I'd love to not have to look at any bills or junk mail on Saturdays!

I don't understand my fiance's thrill with going to get the mail. Damn, it's just bills and crap. There aren't gonna be any checks in there...everything's EFT'd. who knows....

[Orsino]

38. Not just jobs, but *union* jobs. n/t

[Freddie Stubbs]

39. The USPS is required by law to be financially self-sufficient

Which means it either has to cut costs or increase its revenue. If you have a better solution, I'm sure that they would like to hear it.

[Touchdown]

44. They wouldn't be in this position had it not been for Bush and his union busting maneuver.

The pension funds for the PO is different from any other Governmant agency. Required to be self funded in 1/3rd the time of any other, ensuring financial failure, and thus making it easier to privatize the PO. and bust the union.

The solutions are there. Repeal the Bush exec order would be the first on the list.

[Kalyke]

50. Raise the bulk mail rate.

Boom.

Problem solved.

[MilesColtrane]

8. I'm a fan of snail mail.

I'd rather see delivery every day.

I usually get paid by checks in the mail.

Barring that, if they are going to cut a day out, why not make it so that those two non-delivery days are not consecutive?

[Tunkamerica]

9. I'm more concerned about not having a pickup on saturdays

it means having to send everything out one day earlier. It's not a huge deal, but it does mean one more day of forethought.

[Brickbat]

10. I know I'm in the minority, but as someone else said upthread, I get checks in the mail for the work

I do. It would be a pain for me, as well as people losing their jobs because of it.

[complain jane]

11. I'd be happy to do away with most mail. Actually I already have.

No paper bills, etc. My subscriptions are all digital. But I do like my birthday cards :)

[msongs]

13. so, will there be a proportionate cut back in the price of stamps/services then? nt

[Incitatus]

21. They may be cutting costs so they don't have to increase the cost of postage. nt

[Bunny]

27. Is $.44 too much?

I'm always amazed at how much people gripe about the cost of postage. To paraphrase Jon Stewart:
"The post office will come to your house, pick up your letter, put it on a plane, fly it to Wyoming, and deliver it right to your grandmother's door! For 44 f---ing cents!!!"

How much more of a deal can that possibly be? :shrug:

I don't care if they reduce the delivery by one day each week, but maybe it should be Mondays since that's when we observe a lot of holidays and the post office is closed anyway.

[SheilaT]

14. If you work a normal day job

Saturday may be the only day you can get to the post office.

I still mail some of my bills. At Christmas time I find that mailing my presents to the relatives across the country is much cheaper than the alternative services. Not sure why. Plus, there's the ever wonderful Media Mail, which makes it cheaper to mail books, tapes, DVDs and CDs than items of that same weight would normally be.

Military personnel and families posted outside the U.S. rely on the U.S. mail because they all have APO addresses, which are Post Office Boxes, and UPS and the others don't deliver to PO Boxes.

[Toucano]

15. Offices open, no home delivery.

I think that if the offices were open, but they didn't have to send out the carriers, they could save money and those needing services on Saturdays could still get them.

[WillowTree]

16. It will/would be a major inconvenience for me.

I work full-time, do a large percentage of my shopping online and live in a condo (tiny condo-sized mailboxes). UPS leaves packages that don't require signature outside our doors if we're not home and in 10 years that has never presented a problem, but the USPS here absolutely won't do that. If I can't request that they re-deliver on Saturday when I can arrange to be home, that will mean that I'll have to make frequent trips to the PO, which is not at all conveniently located for me, in rush hour after working all day, and then stand in line with all the other people who are in the same boat because there are never, ever, more than two windows open at any given time. I won't be happy about that at all.

[SheilaT]

26. And unless the P O were to have

extended hours during the week, most people aren't going to be able to get there after work on a weekday.

[Kringle]

18. every other day delivery, would be fine with me .nt

[Hannah Bell]

19. yes.

[Incitatus]

20. I pay all my bills online, with the exception of birthday and Christmas cards, almost everything

I get is junk mail.

I couldn't care less.

[notadmblnd]

22. most of my bills come to me in e-mail, now days

I pull more trash out of the mail than anything else, They could cut two or three days a week and I wouldn't complain.

[Travis_0004]

23. Just because you eliminate a day of mail delilvery doesn't mean people get fired

Put a hiring freeze on the post office, and eliminate Saturday delivery.

When people leave for another job or retire, don't replace them. Nobody gets fired.

The Post office has a bit of a budget problem and it needs to be fixed.

Of course, they could also choose to eliminate Wednesday or Thursday instead, I could really care less.

[notadmblnd]

43. I have no objection to that either.

[Fla_Democrat]

24. Netflix

:smoke:

[LWolf]

25. I'd like the post office to stay open.

I don't want to have to take a day off work to pick up a package or buy stamps.

For the rest, I don't want anyone to lose a job.

[madokie]

28. I can do without mail on Saturdays

When we only used a post office box there would be sometimes we'd go two or three days without checking anyway.

[MadHound]

30. I wouldn't like it,

I order a fair amount of things by mail, and if they don't come on a Saturday it means another few days or weeks that I have to wait to get started or finish some project.

It would hit businesses hard, since they're open on Saturday and also are waiting on various postal deliveries.

It would also slow up delivery of my bills, which could be a bit harsh. Yes, I'm one of those dinosaurs who doesn't do online bill paying or banking. Given the lack of security online, and the numerous hacks of online bills and banking, I'm not going to risk such information online.

[lunatica]

31. I'm more concerned with having mail picked up on Saturday

Especially if the next Monday is the due date for the bills. I can't tell you how easy it is to forget writing the bills on time during the week when I'm holding down two jobs and come home tired every day.

[supernova]

32. My PO is open 1/2 days on Sat

and the do deliver on the rural routes such as mine.

It would be an inconvenience for stuff I send out from time to time, usually bills. Sat. morning is also the time I am most likely to have to pick up a package or special letter or send one.

And I am saddened that there are workers who will lose their jobs for this. The PO used to be the most stable job you could get.

[pipi_k]

34. When you're old and cranky and live in the woods

mail is sort of the "social hour". I look forward to mail delivery.

Also, mail delivery means mail pickup and not having to waste nearly 45 minutes going down to the post office and back if I have something that really needs to go out in the mail on a Saturday.


I guess if I lived closer to the city it wouldn't matter a whole lot.

[Bluenorthwest]

35. I need my mail daily

Cutting back on vital business services is no way to grow an economy. If they have to cut a day, it should be another one, because the two down days in a row are worse than two nonconsecutive days. Sad that this is being discussed at all, really.

[pipi_k]

37. And then there are the...

Monday holidays, which would make three days in a row.

[NoPasaran]

36. I feel that getting mail, even junk mail, validates my existence

So yeah, it's kind of a big fucking deal.

[KittyWampus]

40. This would stop home mail delivery but not close the Post Office building. Mail carriers

and Post Office counter workers are two different jobs.

That's what our Post Office people told me. Their jobs would continue on Saturdays.

[azmouse]

41. I get mail, therefore I am.

[Johonny]

42. Seems like a dumb idea

I never like the idea of cutting services to save money. The result is generally that people will use the government service less and less and thus force even more cut backs. The only winners will be the private companies that move mail. Because they will be open on Saturday. It is generally a bad business model to advertise your service isn't that important and people can do with less of it.

[lapislzi]

45. Kinda sorta

Although I pay most of my bills online, I've noticed a trend of late that the grace period "window" seems to be getting smaller and smaller. Bills dated the first week of the month sometimes don't hit my mailbox until the 10th or later, with sometimes only a few days remaining in the grace period. While that's not a problem for me (I just click the mouse), it might be for people who don't have internet access. Those couple of extra days could be critical and mean the difference between a hefty late charge or a utility being suspended.

[dems_rightnow]

46. I can certainly get by without it.

I'd get used to it in no time at all.

[Jennicut]

47. I forget to get the mail on Saturdays and sometimes it sits there

until Monday. But I don't run a business and can see why Saturday mail would be important to some.

[gmoney]

48. I'd support boosting the postage rate more than a penny at a time.

Seems stupid to me that they have to go through and change all their equipment, paperwork, print new stamps, provide 1 or 2 cent stamps, and all the confusion and whatnot just to get another penny or two on each letter. Why not just go right to 50 cents and skip a couple increases? Then a nickel each time every four or five years. Then they might be able to operate at a slight profit, then stash that money to cover future deficits as their costs go up until it becomes necessary to raise the price again.

I know the mass mailers and publications and stuff really lobby to keep the increases at a minimum, but do Office Depot and Capital One REALLY need to send me 4 pieces of mail every week?

[Tailormyst]

51. The fact is that the mass mailers keep postage keep for everyone

If you raise it too high, you put the smaller businesses who rely on mail for marketing right out of business.

[gmoney]

53. well, the bulk rates don't have to rise the same as the individual stamps

50 cents for one letter, and discounts for 200 or 500 or whatever the cut-off is now... the more you send, the less it costs per piece.

[Tailormyst]

55. That sounds pretty reasonable.

[Taitertots]

49. Cutting back postage services is just more conservative foolishness

1.If private enterprise could offer preferable service, they could already. The only way they could exist is to charge more for less service. The only way for them to exist is to unseat the superior model.

2.This is another attack on union workers. Blaming the post office for their depression related problems. Their troubles are the manifestation of Bush economic policy. Use the economic crisis to justify attacking the postal union, teachers union, and auto workers union.

3.Increasing time costs on essential business services is not an effective move to combat the economic troubles.

4.Decreasing the wages of decently paid union workers will decrease their consumption and make the economy worse

[NeedleCast]

52. I'm not

I get half of my "mail" by E-mail now. About the only things I get via snail mail are advertising circulars and credit card offers.

[AngryOldDem]

54. My freelance pay comes by mail.

So it's just one more day for me to **possibly** get a check. You don't know what kind of time-sensitive stuff people are expecting in their mail, which may affect their opinions about Saturday delivery.

[Synicus Maximus]

56. I don't check my mail all that often anyway. So it doesn't matter to me.