Seattle customers, postal workers seem fine with no mail Saturday

The U.S. Postal Service let everyone know Wednesday they will be stopping mail service delivery on Saturdays. Ernie Swanson with the post office’s Seattle district says most customers seem comfortable with the move.

Swanson says a major concern when this was originally proposed was found among those who receive medications through the mail, but that shouldn’t be impacted, he says.

“We are going to deliver packages on Saturdays, which would include medications for those folks that rely on the mail to get them.”

The Postal Service will continue package deliveries six days a week.

The move accentuates one of the agency’s strong points, package delivery has increased by 14 percent since 2010, officials say, while the delivery of letters and other mail has declined with the increasing use of email and other internet services.

Under the new plan, mail would be delivered to homes and businesses only from Monday through Friday, but would still be delivered to post office boxes on Saturdays. Post offices now open on Saturdays would remain open on Saturdays.

The plan is aimed at saving about $2 billion annually. Swanson says most of their employees are aware of the financial struggles of the agency.

“We’re basically losing $25 million a day, so I think employees were prepared for some kind of an announcement and perhaps are even relieved that this may help us stay afloat.”

With the anticipation of some kind of cuts, Swanson says they’ve been leaving many empty positions vacant.

He’s hoping they can accomplish the necessary job cuts through attrition rather than layoffs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.