We No Longer Deliver For You

The Postal Service is looking to drop Saturday delivery to save money.  They may not have a choice in the age of the internet.

Customers are continuing to migrate to the Internet and to cheaper standard-mail options, and away from the Postal Service's signature product -- first-class mail, Postmaster General John E. Potter will report in announcing the projections.

The Postal Service experienced a 13 percent drop in mail volume last fiscal year, more than double any previous decline, and lost $3.8 billion. The projections anticipate steeper drops in mail volume and revenue over the next 10 years, and mounting labor costs only complicate the agency's path to firm fiscal footing.

In an effort to offset some of the losses, Potter seeks more flexibility in the coming year to set delivery schedules, prices and labor costs. The changes could mean an end to Saturday deliveries, longer delivery times for letters and packages, higher postage-stamp prices that exceed the rate of inflation, and the potential for future layoffs.

"At the end of the day, I'm convinced that if we make the changes that are necessary, we can continue to provide universal service for Americans for decades to come," Potter said Monday. "We can turn back from the red to the black, but there are some significant changes we need to make."

The postmaster general called for many of these changes last year but failed to convince lawmakers. This time he's armed with $4.8 million worth of outside studies that conclude that, without drastic changes, the mail agency will face even more staggering losses. 

And given A) the GOP looking to be "fiscally responsible", B) the chance to attack civil service jobs as "government waste" (you know, the ones that aren't Congress-related) and C) it being an election year, you'd better believe the Republicans are going to want to balance the Postal Service's budget.  Big time. 

After all, America's 100,000+ Postal Service employees are all Socialists, right?  I wonder which GOP ace in Congress will be the first to propose scrapping the entire USPS?  I've got money on Paul Ryan.  After all, Americans all have internet access, bank accounts and online bill pay, right?  So who needs mail?

Watch this one become a rallying cry for the Teabaggers.