ESCANABA - The United States Postal Service (USPS) unveiled Tuesday a 10-year plan intended to save them from reaching a projected $283 billion deficit by 2020. Among the seven actions identified in the plan is bringing an end to Saturday delivery - a move that is garnering mixed emotions locally.
According to the USPS press release, issued Tuesday, the proposed five-day delivery schedule would "better reflect current mail volumes and customer habits."
According to Patrick Frye, postmaster of the Ishpeming Post Office, the cut of Saturday delivery would have a ripple effect on local communities, but most likely in the form of job cuts. "It would affect the whole Postal service," said Frye. "Your entire work staff will be affected."
Frye is the media contact for post offices in the area.
As people begin to rely less and less on the USPS resources and more on electronic mediums, the loss of one delivery day may not be as unwelcome as anticipated. This is also true for local residents, who seem unaffected by the announcement.
"I heard that they were going to cut it [delivery] on Saturday," said Monica Frizzell of Cornell. "It would be fine by me."
One possible consequence noted by residents who use USPS to pay bills is worry about not being able to make timely payments.
"It'll make it more difficult to keep everything on time," explained one resident. "Then again, that would mean one less bill in the mail."
Despite this concern, the current trends in written communication have resulted in an anticipated 37 percent decrease in mail volume over the next 10 years, which would prove detrimental to the Postal Service.
The plan isn't receiving a feeling of indifference from everyone, particularly businesses who still rely on the Saturday mail to serve customers.
At the Daily Press, subscribers receiving papers via the post office would be just one of the many groups of people to have their mail postponed for up to three days.
"It would upset a lot of our readers who get their papers Saturday through the mail," said Circulation Manager Dennis Bowen. "Locally, the people who get their paper through the mail receive it on Saturday. They get Friday and Saturday's papers on Saturday and with this, they wouldn't get Friday and Saturday's until Monday."
While the plan has yet to pass through Congress, who has denied the proposal in the past, its instatement seems imperative as USPS runs out of options.
"I know that right now these are only proposals from the Postmaster General," said Frye. "He puts these out every year. We don't know yet if they will go through."
