Editorial

The case for Saturday mail delivery

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Herald-Tribune

Once again there's talk of doing away with Saturday delivery from the United States Postal Service. Some news reports even say a poll says a wide majority of Americans think that's OK.

Not so fast. The National Newspaper Association took a look at the poll taken. Here's the question: Would you rather give up Saturday mail, lose your local post office or lay off postal workers in the worst recession in 70 years?

Asked that way, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how most people would answer. Saturday mail would lose, and lose big. But even cast this way, there's a big flaw in the question -- why would the postal service need as many workers with 52 fewer delivery days? It's obvious people would still lose jobs; if not jobs, then income.

But it's the only thing that makes sense, the USPS says. It's the only way they can make it.

Tell that to the child waiting by the mailbox for a letter or package from Grandma. What's the value of his smile, or his anxious effort to be patient, finally rewarded on Saturday?

Tell that to the millions of customers whose package won't get there in time, whose bills won't be paid on time, whose holiday correspondence won't get there.

Cutting a day of postal delivery will hurt commerce. It will hurt individuals. It will make it harder for businesses of all sizes, but especially small businesses and their customers, to maintain cash flow. It will hurt the Postal Service. Cutting services leads to a decline in customer satisfaction. A decline in customer satisfaction leads the way along a never-ending downward spiral.

So let's talk about that recession, and other options that work when economic times are tough.

I'll tell you what the Nevada Daily Mail, the Fort Scott Tribune, and the Weekend Herald-Tribune did. We didn't cut services. We increased them. We created a bold new magazine for women, and soon will add a magazine for active folks over 50. We stepped up services in direct mailing, printshop services, and sought new ways to use what we had already available. That enabled us to hang on to workers that otherwise might have lost their jobs. There was cost-cutting. There were limits on hours and a re-evaluation of benefits. And we opted for a system of postal delivery, because it was reliable and suited our needs at the time. Many local companies are looking at ways to provide more services. That's how you become the preferred provider. Nevada Regional Medical Center, 3M, and a host of others are taking similar measures.

The NNA acknowledges that USPS is in "grave financial danger," saying it lost $3 billion last year and would have lost more than $7 billion if Congress had not delayed payments into a retiree health care plan. It expects less mail over time and may have to close some post offices and mail processing plants. Streamlining will have to take place. The system will have to reshape itself. Here are some ideas worth considering.

* Labor costs at USPS are high, but the USPS could address this over time at contract negotiation time.

* Take a look at postal regulations, and trim those that are unnecessarily time-consuming or cumbersome, either to the USPS or to its customers. The USPS already has taken some steps in this direction. People seem to love the new flat-rate boxes.

* Educate customers on how to use USPS services more efficiently and easily.

Newspaper delivery

In Nevada and in Fort Scott, customers of the Weekend Herald-Tribune are already wondering what will happen to their weekend newspaper if Saturday delivery ends. Well, the USPS will lose the revenue now spent by this and thousands of other newspapers that use postal delivery on Saturday; but we'll find an alternative, because we believe anything less would be a disservice to our customers. But we hope Congress will say no to the USPS idea of ending Saturday delivery, and the USPS will look at new, innovative and better ways to serve its customers.

Dropping Saturday delivery literally takes an act of Congress. Postmaster General Jack Potter told Congress in 2009 that he believed Saturday delivery should end. The Postal Regulatory Commission is now reviewing that request and will report to Congress on whether it agrees. We encourage the public to comment online, at www.prc.gov.