Senator warns of “heavy trade-off” in cutting USPS deliveries
The chairman of the US Senate’s Federal Workforce subcommittee has spoken of his concern for the 40,000 jobs that could be lost if the US Postal Service is allowed to cut Saturday deliveries. Senator Daniel Akaka said on Monday that cutting 17% of the USPS delivery service for a projected 5% cost savings was a “heavy trade-off”.
He also cast doubt on USPS estimates that moving to a five-day delivery service would save $3bn a year.
“I am concerned about the impact on federal workers in these challenging economic times,” said the Senator from Hawaii.
“If such a dramatic shift in delivery service is to take place, policy-makers need to see a thorough analysis of the true savings and costs of reducing mail delivery to five days.”
The Senator’s comments came as the Postal Regulatory Commission continues to review the USPS request to drop Saturday deliveries in order to help stem its $7bn-a-year losses.
The Commission has been reviewing the request since April, describing it as “one of the most significant changes the Postal Service has ever presented to the Commission”.
Much of Senator Akaka’s fears about the changes in USPS deliveries were specific to his home state of Hawaii, where he pointed out that a population spread across six islands was particularly reliant on the Postal Service.
Neither Fed Ex nor UPS offer Saturday delivery services in Hawaii, he said, with the only alternative being USPS Express Mail, which could be three times more expensive than Priority Mail and hampered by a shortage of staff resources.
The Senator said dropping Saturday deliveries could “severely impact” businesses in Hawaii during a difficult economic period.
He explained: “Hawaii is unique in that we rely on our local businesses for services and goods to a higher degree than our mainland counterparts. In turn, those businesses often rely on the Postal Service to deliver those goods.”
Sen. Akaka also warned that Hawaii’s postal elections could be disrupted by the loss of Saturday deliveries, and that health could be at risk if mail-order pharmaceuticals were affected.
He said: “Prescriptions often come from the mainland, and a delivery delay at processing facilities could prove dangerous to consumers.”
When are the politicians going to wake up to the fact that postage is not urgent anymore.
They should think “out of the box” and encourage local solutions to local problems. If Hawaii wants saturday delivery let them pay extrafor it. Then they would decide they don’t need it.