Senator Says Panel will block USPS Proposal to drop Saturday Mail delivery

July 28, 2010 by
Filed under: postal 

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -  The Senate panel that oversees the budget of the U.S. Postal Service will not consider cutting mail delivery to five days per week, Senator Jon Tester announced today.

Tester used his position as a member of the Senate Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee to push for continued Saturday service, because people who live in rural areas rely on Saturday delivery for essential deliveries like medications, newspapers, and checks.

The USPS was considering a proposal to stop Saturday delivery service to homes and businesses in an attempt to cut costs.  But Tester said the move would amount to relatively small savings and cost hundreds of jobs in Montana alone.

 “Folks in rural and frontier communities often rely on their Saturday mail to bring them the things they need to live,” Tester said.  “Unlike in urban areas where folks can walk down the block to the local drug store, many Montanans live long distances from the nearest pharmacy or newsstand. Getting mail six-days per week is part of what keeps rural America strong and thriving.”

Testers said the decision to keep Saturday service is part of the Senate’s Fiscal Year 2011 Financial Services Appropriations Act, which the full Appropriations Committee will vote on Thursday.

Tester said as a child, he remembered hearing from a 93-year old woman about her life experiences and how important rural mail service was to her. The woman told Tester that she had lived through two world wars and the invention of the automobile, airplane and spaceflight. She said that after all of those experiences, the thing she was most thankful for was reliable rural postal delivery service.

Tester is a powerful advocate for rural postal services.  In recent years he pushed the USPS to keep open post offices in Kinsey and Black Eagle, and to maintain postal delivery service in Martin City.

source: Senator Jon Tester press release

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Comments

16 Comments on Senator Says Panel will block USPS Proposal to drop Saturday Mail delivery

  1. Donald on Wed, 28th Jul 2010 5:46 pm

    2. Great decision by Senator Tester; my advice is to ask senior management why
    there has been a 15% INCREASE in mgmt staffing – looks like there are
    some cost savings to be made there!

  2. Senator Says Panel will block USPS Proposal to drop Saturday Mail delivery at Postal Affairs Blog on Wed, 28th Jul 2010 6:34 pm

    3. [...] Senator Says Panel will block USPS Proposal to drop Saturday Mail delivery : PostalReporter News Blo…. [...]

  3. Babiesbengals on Wed, 28th Jul 2010 6:54 pm

    4. Thank God!!!! Finally someone understands why we can’t eliminate Saturdays!!!
    Thank You Senator Tester

  4. james speak on Wed, 28th Jul 2010 7:37 pm

    5. If only someone could investigate the management waste in the postal service there would be substantial savings. However, they are running the ship and all we can say is aye aye sir!!!! In the meantime, the unions are only perputaliting the ordeal to protect their interests.

  5. Broncos on Wed, 28th Jul 2010 9:01 pm

    6. This senater is worried about the hardship to people that live in the country. How about all them people that will lose their jobs after the post office folds. Because that is what will happen if they don’t elimenate Saturday delivery.

  6. stu-man on Wed, 28th Jul 2010 9:01 pm

    7. Tester says that cutting sat. delivery would amount to only small savings?! I’ve heard both sides, pro-con, and the estimates range from 2 to 3 billion- BILLION! No matter what side your on, you have to admit , offering voluntary retirements and cutting lose thousands of temps. (TE’s) would save usps billions of $$. The unions know this and would admit it , but with thousands of employees leaving and no longer paying their dues they stand to lose millions. If nalc can keep their numbers of members paying dues that good for them but its going to cost us. We will have to take paycuts or pay more for our healthcare or lose a holiday here or there. How about working 6 six-hour days? Going to 5-day delivery is a sound idea for usps and its employees, it just hurts the unions.

  7. uncommon sense on Thu, 29th Jul 2010 2:28 am

    8. “Folks in rural and frontier communities often rely on their Saturday mail to bring them the things they need to live,”
    Folks in truly rural and frontier communities in Montana would love an increase in service to 5 days a week. Places in Montana like Polebridge, North Lambert, South Brockton, north Richey etc. that are truly rural and frontier only get delivery 3 days per week.

    Saying that communities like this can’t live with 5 day delivery is a pretty lame argument IMHO.

  8. anyman123 on Thu, 29th Jul 2010 5:28 am

    9. When it goes under don’t blame management for the demise. Blame unions and congress….Mail volume will continue to decline and by the time someone want to do something about it , it will be too late. Why people only see what they want to see is beyond me. This is the internet age wheather we like or not..

  9. anyman123 on Thu, 29th Jul 2010 5:30 am

    10. Read the blogs posted by our customers. Most don’t care about Saturday deliveries. Now who’s not listening?

  10. Comrade on Fri, 30th Jul 2010 12:31 am

    11. Just giver five years and fifty thousand and I’m gone

  11. cb on Fri, 30th Jul 2010 6:29 pm

    12. the unions don’t want it, They will lose 30,000 paying members and then will have to charge more to current members. Current members will get made and start dropping out. There goes the unions. Just the old people care about the mail, they don’t know how to use the internet.

  12. David on Sat, 31st Jul 2010 3:52 am

    13. He remembered hearing AS A CHILD. This Tester guy is an idiot. We have a world of soldiers dying for no reason, environmental collapse and basically a societal gone totally amuk. Tester is worried about the little old lady. These public servants are way off on this one. Save the USPS but more importantly preserve the enviroment , curtail Saturday delivery.

  13. David on Sat, 31st Jul 2010 3:53 am

    14. If the rest of the world has no Saturday delivery than why not the USA? Canada is doing ok with a higher life expectancy than us and much more rural and worse weather and they are ok with m-f. Lets tell the whole story folks.

  14. Chris Moth on Fri, 6th Aug 2010 8:08 am

    15. Please cut USPS deliveries to 3 days per week.

    Nothing much comes in the mail in 2010. And, that which does come via snail mail is absolutely not urgent.

    Let’s put those billions towards improved facilities and programs for public education.

    Thanks!

  15. Terry Weaver on Sun, 8th Aug 2010 6:18 am

    16. I am a retiree from the USPS, Mail Processing equipment was to replace people and lessen the cost of operation, instead, the Unions and Upper Mngt ask or took more pay raises? What is needed is a freeze on salaries and COL increases for five years and get rid of the unnecessary people positions that do not move the mail. As for Sat. delivery, it is not needed in todays living.

  16. Robert Sensenig on Sun, 8th Aug 2010 10:48 am

    17. You do not believe the waste at the top in management & upper management & they will never do nothing about it.
    Why do we need {P.O.M.S} Why do we need a supervisor per 15 employees.
    Why do all all management get a special check every year even when the U.S.P.S is going Broke????