(Updated) Saturday Mail Delivery Not a Concern to Cheshire Residents

Residents in Cheshire are hardly fretting over the fact that they may not receive mail of Saturdays, saying the decision by the U.S. Postal Service is a "smart business move" and will have little to no impact on their daily lives.

"I don't get anything on Saturday that can't wait till Monday," said local resident Susan Santoro on the Cheshire Patch Facebook page.

Calling the six-days-per-week mail delivery business model “no longer sustainable,” the U.S. Postal Service Wednesday morning announced it will eliminate Saturday delivery of mail by Aug. 1.

For many people in Cheshire, what they receive on Saturdays has been forgettable, to say the least. Several residents said they can't remember the last time they expected an important document in the mail on a weekend and others joked that it was a guaranteed "junk mail" day.

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Sharon Foster said if the decision saves first-class mail, then it's the best move that the U.S. Postal Service can make.

"I'm fine with it if it means the difference between life and death for first class mail," Foster said. "I still need to be able to mail greeting cards and the rent check, but most everything else I do electronically."

Post offices will remain open Saturdays and package deliveries will occur on Saturdays, according to the U.S. Postal Service. In Cheshire, the post office is located on Maple Avenue.

The reasons for the change are continued economic struggles and the increasing use of the Internet for communications and bill paying by consumers, according to the USPS website. The U.S. Postal Service is also the only federal agency required to pre-fund health benefits for retirees, and those costs are escalating quickly.

“Our current business model of delivering mail six days a week is no longer sustainable. We must change in order to remain an integral part of the American community for decades to come.”

Saturday is the lightest mail delivery day by volume and many businesses are closed on Saturdays, according to the U.S. Postal Service. However, many residents receive print magazines and ads on Saturdays in the mail that may be shifted to another day. According to a CBS News report, the change would only affect first-class mail; packages, mail-order medicines, priority and express mail will continue to be delivered on Saturdays.

A Rasmussen poll on mail delivery in 2012 showed “Three-out-of-four Americans (75%) would prefer the U.S. Postal Service cut mail delivery to five days a week rather than receive government subsidies to cover ongoing losses.”

A USA Today/Gallup poll in 2010 found the majority of U.S. residents surveyed were ok with eliminating Saturday delivery. The March 2010 telephone survey of 999 adults revealed people age 55 and older were more likely than younger people to have used the mail to pay a bill or send a letter in the past two weeks.

Tell Us: How will this change affect you? Will you miss getting mail on Saturdays?

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