Post office will keep Saturday deliveries

By John Bacon and Alan Levin
Credit: From staff and wire reports
PHOTO, B/W, James A. Finley, AP; PHOTO, B/W, AP; GRAPHIC, B/W, USA TODAY
The U.S. Postal Service will continue delivering mail six days a week, its board chairman said Tuesday. The agency, facing losses that could approach $2 billion this fiscal year, had considered elimination of Saturday deliveries. But after a preliminary study, the postal Board of Governors decided to drop the plan, Chairman Robert Rider said. The threat of a cutback had drawn heavy criticism from Congress, the mailing industry and the public. The board,
meeting in Evansville, Ind., said it has halted most construction and made other cuts to ease losses blamed on the shrinking economy and the increases in the cost of gasoline.
USA TODAY, 11th July 2001