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USPS plans to eliminate Saturday letter delivery
It's an approach that the United States Postal Service hopes will save millions. Change at your local post office is coming this summer. The USPS will implement a five day delivery schedule, stopping Saturday services.
The change will affect businesses and residents. But, people News 5 spoke with in Hastings say they're satisfied with the change. Some tell me they would rather see no Saturday delivery as opposed to post offices closing on Saturdays. As the United States Postal Service continues to suffer financial hardships, change was anticipated. "Mail delivery will occur Monday through Friday and we will not deliver mail on Saturday," said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. The digital world is booming and mailing habits are shifting. Since 2002, first class mail declined dramatically - 50 percent, according to the USPS. "Even the government is no longer using the post office." Hastings residents are backing the change. "Well, I'm sure we'll miss it on Saturdays, but we're kind of creatures of habit and we expect our papers to be delivered and we don't know how much it's costing, but if it'll bail them out, I guess, that's good," said Eugene Nienhueser. "The cost cutting measures have to be in place so I don't really think it's going to bother anybody," said Steve Thorpe. "It's not going to affect me personally because we have a post office box and they're still going to deliver it on Saturday," Dina Michel said. Only packages will be delivered on Saturdays. Local post offices will continue to operate on Saturday's to include delivery to PO boxes. But, Congress is still in the driver seat and they'll have some questions for the USPS. U.S. Senator Deb Fischer responded to the announcement in a conference call: "I think in March when we look at that they will need to respond to Congressional concerns." Last year USPS lost nearly $16 billion. They expect to save $2 billion annually with this new plan which will start August 5th. |
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