Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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April 5, 2010

USPS asks public opinion on eliminating Saturday delivery

By GREG JORDAN Bluefield Daily Telegraph

GREEN VALLEY — Officials with the U.S. Postal Service are asking members of the public how they would feel if the mail no longer came on Saturdays.

The U.S. Postal Commission recently started a review to see whether the service’s plan to eliminate Saturday deliveries should be implemented.

“The commission is the watchdog agency that determines if the Postal Service meets its Universal Service Obligation to the nation. Our process will provide multiple opportunities for the public to be heard and for all the facts to be  considered  before the commission issues its advisory opinion,” Chairman Ruth Y. Goldway said in a public announcement. “The ball is in our court. There will be no final decision until the record is complete.”

Due to falling mail volumes and revenues, the Postal Service is considering an idea to end Saturday mail collection and delivery except for Express Mail and existing post office box service.

Area residents visiting the Mercer Mall had mixed feelings about not receiving mail on Saturday. Some residents who do not regularly use e-mail or Internet services to send messages or pay bills were leery of losing service on the weekend.

“I don’t like that,” Billy Dyson, 68, said. “I live in Bluewell, and we need that Saturday delivery, but e-mails are cutting a lot of that out. My wife messes with the computer, but we don’t mess with e-mail. We don’t pay our bills with it or anything.”

Not all consumers were dismayed at the idea of getting no mail on Saturday.

“I don’t think it will bother us any, really” said Scottie Brown, 33, of Richlands, Va. “I don’t see how it would inconvenience us at all. We don’t use the mail that much, so we don’t have to have it on certain days.”

The commission will examine four areas of the plan.

“Will the savings the Postal Service anticipates be as significant as they estimate,” Goldway asked. “Will mail volume decline more than the Postal Service anticipates? Will businesses and citizens have service that remains adequate to meet their needs? And will the national economic impact of service reductions offset or add to the savings that are proposed?”

Members of the public are invited to share their views on the commission website at www.prc.gov by clicking the “contact PRC” tab to access an online service form.

Another area resident said she hardly checked her mail on Saturday.

“I don’t think it would make a whole lot of difference,” said Anita Barilla, 57, of Athens. “I still get the same mail on Monday.”

A Virginia resident also wasn’t alarmed by the idea of no mail on Saturday.

“It probably wouldn’t be a big deal, I don’t believe,” said Dennis Lockhart, 63, of North Tazewell, Va. “That’s one day less of getting a bill in the mail.”

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