Printable VersionA plan by the U.S. Postal Service to eliminate Saturday mail delivery may seem like a natural and inevitable step. In a digital age, snail mail increasingly is seen as something from the buggy whip era.
Donald J. Hall, the CEO of Hallmark Cards, recently wrote that the plan to drop Saturday is an ill-advised plan to reduce Postal Service expenses without addressing large organizational and operational issues.
He points out that the independent Postal Service is a business. What business, he wrote, could grow its revenue and customer loyalty by steadily increasing rates while reducing service?
The American public depends upon timely and reliable mail delivery. Those who live in remote areas would suffer if mail delivery takes longer. Businesses have to be able to count on things like bills going out and payments being received within a reasonable time.
The Hallmark CEO has skin in the game, of course. How much would the greeting card business suffer if the public has doubts over whether Aunt Sally’s birthday card will arrive in time? His situation is emblematic of other confidence questions that would arise from fewer mail delivery days.
Hall emphasizes that the Postal Regulatory Commission found that eliminating Saturday mail delivery will save only about half the money projected by the Postal Service. If that’s true, what happens to future postal rates?
A core expense issue for the Postal Service is that 80 percent of its expenses are tied to employee wages and benefits. That’s where the real savings reside, especially if adjustments can be made to pension programs.
Hall also cited the excess capacity at mail distribution and processing centers, requiring extra staffing and operating costs.
A short-term fix by cutting Saturday mail will cut a little bit of expense, but it will serve to further alienate customers and force the march toward alternative mailing methods.
— Today’s News-Herald
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