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Postal changes could have widespread impact
Although the United States Postal Service is in the throes of financial distress, reducing deliveries to only five days a week would be a last-resort action, according to officials from the USPS and the National Association of Letter Carriers.
In his address before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee, Postmaster General John Potter spoke openly about the current financial crisis from which the USPS currently suffers. Potter addressed the reasons why he feels the corporation is struggling financially and the actions the USPS has taken thus far to correct the problem. In addition, he presented a couple of future solutions, which would have to be approved by Congress. One of the solutions brought up in Potter's speech was to cut back on the number of days USPS will deliver mail.
"First, it is possible that the cost of six-day delivery may simply prove to be unaffordable," Potter said. "If that should occur, it could become necessary to temporarily reduce mail delivery to only five days a week. We would do this by suspending delivery on the lightest volume days."
In spite of the fact that Potter appealed to members of Congress, asking them to remove the annual appropriation bill rider, which demands USPS deliver mail six days a week, Rich Watkins, USPS media contact for the Kansas City area, said the cutback will only happen if there is no other way out of the current crisis.
"In talking about one less day of delivery," Watkins said, "that's worst-case scenario."
According to William Young, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, www.nalc.org, the USPS' elimination of one delivery day per week is very unlikely.
"There are no plans to eliminate six-day delivery," Williams said in a recent statement. "NALC is working with the Postal Service and other postal organizations on a common-sense approach to overcoming the economic crisis. Neither the American public, nor the postal industry, nor the key leaders of Congress, nor the NALC support any reduction in service."
Should the "worst-case scenario" actually become necessary, many residents in the local area, who receive prescription medications through the mail, would need to make some adjustments, according to Janet Zornes, a pharmacist with Wood's Pharmacy.
Unfortunately people are going to have to start planning ahead (if the USPS cuts back on delivery days)," Zornes said. "It will be an inconvenience for a lot of people."
Zornes said the Fort Scott pharmacy mails about 102 prescriptions every month to customers who have difficulty getting to the pharmacy. According to Zornes, Wood's Pharmacy is currently mailing prescriptions as far away as Texas.
"A lot of people utilize the service," Zornes said.
According to Wilkinson Pharmacy Human Resources personnel Heather Brockmyer, should USPS do away with one delivery day each week, the Nevada pharmacy would go the extra mile to ensure that all of its customers who rely on the service receive their medications.
"Our staff will need to be more creative in getting those prescriptions to customers in a timely manner," Brockmyer said.
According to Fort Scott Post Office Postmaster Robert Vacca, he has heard of no immediate plans to decrease mail service to only five days per week.
"As far as I know," Vacca said. "We're going to operate under normal hours until I'm told otherwise."
According to Watkins, the biggest issue discussed by Potter is not the possible decrease in mail delivery days, but rather the fact that the cooperation is required to prefund premiums for future retirees' health benefits.
"We are asking for a legislative change to provide relief from the crippling cost burden imposed by the law's requirement that we prefund the employer premium for the health benefits of future retirees while continuing to pay health care premiums for our current retirees," Potter said.
Watkins says USPS is the only government entity which is required to prepay health benefit premiums at such levels.
USPS predicts the volume of mail will decrease by 12-15 billion pieces of mail this year, causing a drastic decline in revenue, Potter said.
"Preliminary quarter-one financial results show that revenue is down approximately $1.3 billion -- 6.5 percent -- from the same period last year," he said. "We expect that 2009 will be the first time that we have recorded a year-to-year revenue decline since 1946."
According to Potter, USPS has made multiple attempts to right its financial situation, but these steps alone will not be enough.
"While we reacted as quickly as we could to declining volumes and the economic downturn, some costs were completely beyond our control, most notable the huge prefunding requirement for retiree health benefits and the largest Cost of Living Adjustments in our history, required by the collective-bargaining agreements without craft unions," Potter said. "We simply could not cut costs fast enough to meet these obligations and remain profitable."
Potter added, the Postal Service is doing everything it can to right the situation, and continue to provide an efficient service to the American people.
"The Postal Service is today, and always has been, the link that connects every American -- no matter who, no matter where -- to every other American, for only the price of a stamp and an address," Potter said. "We cannot put this at risk ... Without the mail, a still-vital piece of our nation's infrastructure, our nation would be the poorer. We cannot let that happen. Therefore we are turning to Congress for help." ꆱ