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Readers Write: Time for three-days-a-week mail delivery?

According to a recent assessment of the reasons for the huge and continually growing deficit of the U.S. Postal Service, the problem can be summed up in a few sentences.

– Mail volume is decreasing each year.

– Sixty percent (60 percent) of Post Office costs are delivery related.

– Number of locations requiring servicing is increasing each year.

– Cost of delivery is unrelated to number of pieces delivered on each visit.

How about three day a week delivery? This would automatically double the number of pieces delivered on each visit. This would put us back to “square one,” a return to high volume pieces delivered per visit and thus virtually halving the cost of delivery.

Would this really adversely affect anyone? Perhaps some few persons in a very minor way. On the average your mail would arrive only one-half day later than at present. That is one-half of your mail no later than now and the other half of your mail a day later than now. (Incidentally George Washington’s servant had to ride horseback 30 miles round trip once a week  from Mount Vernon to Alexandria and back  to pick up his mail).

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So what are the negatives? 

Is there anything you now receive via the Postal Service that an insignificant delay would be detrimental? I doubt it but just to cover all bases, since some people still do not have access to emails, have the Postal Service re-instate special delivery albeit at a fairly stiff price. 

I am unable to think of any flaw in this proposal. It seems so logical that I am mystified as to why it has not been seriously considered. I realize that our Congress must approve such a move. But why hasn’t  this even  been discussed?  What is so sacred about six-day delivery? 

The world is changing  rapidly. E-mails, bill paying, online banking, online shopping, Facebook, twitter are the new system supplanting most Postal services.  

To a great extent postal delivery now consists  mainly of catalogues. These certainly aren’t one day time sensitive.  

 

Theodore Theodorsen


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