End to Saturday Mail seems less than likely

The idea of the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service stopping mail delivery on Saturdays is being recycled. Reaction from a random sample of businesspeople ranged from “It’ll never happen” to “It wouldn’t affect us much.”

Bob Brinkman, spokesman for the Newspaper Association of America, said he didn’t expect the delivery schedule to change.

“There isn’t a chance in a thousand that they could stop Saturday delivery,” Brinkman said. “That’s because they have so much volume in the system that if they didn’t clean out their facilities six days a week, their facilities would grind to a halt, and there would be massive gridlock.

“The mail wouldn’t even get to the carriers. If you’ve got 5,000 square feet of space and 4,500 square feet of mail in it, and you get another 4,500 square feet of mail, if you don’t clean it out, then you’ve got 9,000 square feet of mail in 5,000 square feet of space. It would be a mess. There’s not a chance of that happening.”

Mary Reed, Peninsula customer relations coordinator for the post office, said rumors about reducing delivery days crop up from time to time.

She said postal-rate increases — now just proposals — included raising first-class postage stamps from 34 to 37 cents and post-card prices from 21 to 23 cents. Any rate increases would likely occur near the end of June, she said.

Although the Postal Service has removed hundreds of stand-alone mailboxes across the nation since the Sept. 11 and anthrax tragedies, no mailboxes in Newport News have been removed.

Six in Hampton were removed and three relocated before the national crises, Reed said, explaining, “We do a density test once a year. We remove those getting less than 10 pieces of mail a day.”

Advantis’ Gina Baker said a Saturday mail stoppage wouldn’t affect the business but added, “If they took away our mailbox out in front of our building, we would be in trouble.”

Tara Haley at Re/Max Peninsula, said a Saturday stoppage wouldn’t have an impact.

Chad Sayler, manager of 20/20 Eye Care in Patrick Henry Mall, said, “Most of our product comes in by UPS. Generally, the stuff we receive in the mail are bills and magazines. So it probably wouldn’t hurt anybody’s feelings to receive those a day later.”