Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Five-day delivery. What do our customers think?

The Postal Service is seeking permission to curtail delivery from six to five days, in order to cut costs. The proposed five-day delivery plan cannot be implemented unless Congress first allows it.


Last month, Rasmussen Reports conducted a national telephone survey of 1,000 adults.

One of the questions was: “The United States Postal Service now delivers mail six days a week but is hoping to cut back to five days a week as a way to reduce its budget losses. Do you favor or oppose the Postal Service’s plan to cut mail delivery to five days a week.

The survey revealed that 14 percent of respondents were undecided about cutting mail delivery to five days a week. Respondents wanting to keep Saturday delivery weighed in at 34 percent.

The majority of respondents, 52 percent, favored the move from six to five days. But the desire for six-day delivery has cooled. A poll last March showed 58 percent wanted five-day delivery.

Only 31 percent of people wanted to privatize the Postal Service. The poll also concluded that 77 percent of respondents thought there would be a need for a Postal Service in 10 years.

The survey is found here. What do you think about the results? Comment here.

15 comments:

Fully Kreusened said...

The customers don't care if we go to 5 day. Most letter carriers don't care if we go to 5 day. I wish the USPS would be honest and give us the number of people that would be laid off. I'd love to have Saturdays off as long as I don't have all days ending in Y off. Oh, by the way, it doesn't really matter if the USPS makes money does it?

Anonymous said...

My friends say they prefer six day delivery but they don't feel strongly enough to write a legislator. I think most people would kick and scream at first and then they'd adjust.

Anonymous said...

Being from an area with many small offices and if we go to 5 day delivery, I would like to know who we will find to fill in for the (one)rural carrier in our office when he is on annual leave and sick leave. My RCA already has said he will be quitting if we go to 5 day delivery. Who will take a job with AL & SL as the only days to work? It's hard to find someone willing to take the job now with one day a week and the AL & SL days.

Anonymous said...

I am from a small rural office and I have spoken with many of my customers about 5 day delivery. As long as the post office is open on Saturdays so they can pick up certifieds and parcels, they are OK with it especially if it saves us money and keeps us open. We already have "hold at PO" services and I would not have an issue with looking for parcels for my rural customers. If you watch any of the political talks, their main focus is cutting costs by cutting staff. One congressman even stated that attrition is not doing the job and wants biger cuts.

Anonymous said...

Employees are not willing to take pay cuts, unions aren't willing to freeze COLAs, employees are not willing to allow their pay to be frozen, they are fighting PO closings and consolidations....where else can we cut costs??

tekgems said...

How much would you save by closing down plants in metropolitan areas that are leased? UPS or FedEx only keep one big hub and then have small retail stores. I don't see why the post office couldn't do the same. Maybe they can rent space from Office Depot, Staples, or supermarkets?

Jim Carothers said...

IF we go to 5-day delivery, we need to incorporate delivering Priority along with Express Mail on Saturdays. It is one of our premium services and should be treated as such. I fear we will lose ground in the package industry if we don't.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, but I just don't see the cost savings in eliminating Saturday delivery. In my office, Saturday's mail volume is very heavy, second only to Monday, which is when it would be delivered! This would be like having a Monday holiday every week. The regular carriers would be getting OT every week, and then the POOM's would have a fit! For a small office like mine, it would be a no-win situation. Even with getting rid of the RCA's who are carrying the routes on Saturdays now, I don't think we'd realize the cost savings they're trying to say we would, because we're only paying them for one day's work per week and no benefits!

grannybunny said...

While Rasmussen is not considered a reliable, unbiased, poll, I believe that the majority of Americans would not mind a move to 5-day delivery, so long as stations remain open, with the option for P. O. Box Service. The big question is whether or not Congress will ever go along with the move.

jasmine krotkov said...

They say that ‘the answer is always in the question’. The Rasmussen survey question stated that the Postal Service is “hoping to cut back to five days” which is just plain untrue. I am a part of the Postal Service and I’m hoping to not only continue to fulfill our congressional mandate to collect, process and deliver the mail, but to expand the scope of that mandate to include electronic communications and to provide other important services to the American people. Someone in the hierarchy of postal management may be hoping to diminish service rather than encouraging Congress to recognize the opportunities which lie inherently within a crisis, but it ain’t me. I think its time to steer the discussion away from how to cheapen our services to what kind of services we are best equipped to provide in this new economic environment.

Anonymous said...

Where is the Postal Services' "Rainy Day Fund"? The answer is, there is none because all profits go into the US Governments General Fund and the Post Office never has access to the profits it generates.
I don't know of any other business that operates this way.

Anonymous said...

Where are these 1,000 adults with land lines(they telephoned them)located? Did they call 20 adults from every state? 5 from big cities,5 from med size cities, 5 from big towns and 5 from small towns? That is what is wrong with the suveys they do. It is usually from areas that would make the survey more to their liking.

Anonymous said...

To answer your question: I'm sorry, but I just don't see the cost savings in eliminating Saturday delivery. The cost savings would be in EMA. My carriers both drive 100+ miles, that comes to around 200 miles at $0.50 a mile...that's $100 per Saturday times 52 weeks that comes to $5,200. If there are 5,000 offices similiar to mine...26 million dollars. That to me is a huge savings.

Anonymous said...

To comment on the where is the savings question the mail volume is definatly lower then it used to be people are not afraid of the day after the holiday like they used to be becuase the volume is just not there. A good manager can manage his workload and the day after the holiday is no different then any other day.Also having that extra mail on a Monday from Saturday does not mean automatic overtime. That is why we have supervisors and postmasters it is our job to manage the mail and spread some of the third class out throughout the week to ensure service is maintained and overtime is reduced. There also should be no need for NS day overtime anymore becuase everyone has the same day off think of all the money you would be saving there.

Kflorie said...

Think of the savings in T-6 salaries, not to mention their heath care benefits, etc...all across the country! It seems like a no-brainer to me! I don't see the mail volume ever coming back-instead, it will continue to decline, sadly.