Dust off those stamps: the U.S. Postal Service isn’t ending Saturday mail delivery this summer after all.
What’s the reason for the apparent change of heart? A bill passed by Congress this spring. As it turns out, the language in the bill bars such a change in plans. This, according to the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors statement:
By including restrictive language in the Continuing Resolution, Congress has prohibited implementation of a new national delivery schedule for mail and packages, which would consist of package delivery Monday through Saturday and mail delivery Monday through Friday, and which would have taken effect the week of Aug. 5, 2013.
The Board of Governors said they were “disappointed” by the move but had “no choice but to delay this implementation at this time.”
The Postal Service had previously announced in February that it would put a stop to Saturday mail delivery as of August 2013. The move was expected to save the agency $2 billion a year – even though the savings won’t be felt by taxpayers. Taxpayers don’t keep the lights on in the Postal Service since it’s not technically run by the government nor is it funded by taxpayers: the Postal Service hasn’t received federal subsidies from taxpayers for more than thirty years (with limited exceptions related to voting).
This latest move likewise won’t affect taxpayers – at least not directly – since the added costs of keeping the post office open on Saturdays will be carried by the agency. The timing, however, is more than a little bit coincidental. The Continuing Resolution (basically, an interim budget to keep the lights on) was passed about two weeks ago and included the now controversial provision requiring six days of postal delivery even though that provision is not actually related to the budget (of course). With a new fiscal showdown looming in Washington, it’s now news again.
This is indicative of the kind of thing that has contributed to the mess we’re in now, of course: budget deals gunked up with items that aren’t related to the actual budget. In this case, the Postal Service doesn’t even want to stay open on Saturdays and Congress is making them do it. Ostensibly it’s because this is best for the country. I would suggest that agreeing on a long term budget would do more for the country.
