Lawmakers who wouldn’t help the U.S. Postal Service as its annual losses reached almost $16 billion may be spurred to act after Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said he would end Saturday mail delivery without Congress’s approval if necessary.
Donahoe’s Feb. 6 announcement prompted U.S. House and Senate leaders to say that passing legislation to restore the service’s financial viability is a top priority this year, even as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday joined other Democrats in questioning the move’s legality.
Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid issued the following statement after the United States Postmaster General made the decision to suspend mail delivery on Saturdays:
“While I question the legality of the Postmaster General’s decision to suspend Saturday mail delivery, this unfortunate scenario could have been wholly prevented if the House had passed the Senate’s bipartisan postal reform bill in the last Congress. Cutting down mail delivery to five days per week will not save the Postal Service from insolvency. This short sighted measure will deal a crippling blow to the millions of Americans and small businesses who rely on the timely and reliable delivery to every community in our nation.
“Given the importance of the Post Office to communities in Nevada and across our nation, such a drastic policy change cannot be enacted without approval from Congress. Instead, the Postmaster General relied on flawed legal guidance to claim that he can circumvent Congress’ authority on the matter. The Postmaster Generals’ actions have damaged his reputation with Congressional leaders and further complicates Congressional efforts to pass comprehensive postal reform legislation in the future.” Read the rest of this entry »
Saturday mail delivery is over and the U.S. Postal Service is on life support. And no one is telling the full story!
Tonight on “The Ed Show”, Ed Schultz goes inside the Republican plan to crush an American institution with Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-VA) and Audrey Humes, a rural mail carrier and former president of the Missouri Rural Letter Carriers.
Feb. 7, 2013 — Members of both houses of Congress have gone on record to say that they consider the Postal Service’s plan to go to 5-day delivery to be counterproductive and legally suspect. Check out a few members of Congress who are talking about it at the links below and contact your member if he or she is not on the list.
WASHINGTON (February 6, 2013) – Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) today released the following statement on the U.S. Postal Service’s announcement that they will be eliminating Saturday delivery of the mail:
"Eliminating Saturday mail delivery will negatively affect many of the hardworking people of the U.S. Postal Service who perform such a vital job for our country. It also could harm businesses that depend on Saturday delivery and customers who can’t wait through the weekend to receive the government benefits they rely on.
NALCREST, Fla. — Hidden off of the not-so-beaten path of State Road 60 in Central Florida is a small town with a unique perspective on the United States Postal Service decision to stop the delivery of first class mail on Saturdays.
Nalcrest, a town of several hundred people midway between Tampa and Vero Beach, was founded by letter carriers as a retirement community in the 1960s.
Hours after the USPS announcement, retired letter carriers said the decision would hurt the public.
Direct-to-customer merchants who mail catalogs told Multichannel Merchant they are fine with the United States Postal Service’s 5-day delivery plan, which is scheduled to go into effect the week of Aug. 5.
Catalog mailers and others in direct-to-customer said they think the savings will be passed on to them in the form of fewer future rate increases.
(U.S. SENATE) – Senator Jon Tester today criticized the U.S. Postal Service’s proposal to cut six-day mail delivery. Under the plan, the Postal Service will continue delivering packages six days a week, but stop regular mail delivery on Saturdays:
"This is an irresponsible change proposed by Postal Service executives that refuse to share in the sacrifice they are demanding of everyday Montanans. Read the rest of this entry »
The U.S. Postal Service today continued its tradition, under the leadership of Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, of shooting itself in the foot. The only question that remains is: When will the madness end? By ending Saturday letter delivery in August 2013, as the USPS has proposed, millions of customers who take advantage of its services will be harmed, mail service will be slowed, and the USPS’s current death spiral will deepen.
It is unclear where Postmaster General Donahoe thinks he has the authority to make this change without congressional approval. In making the move to end Saturday letter delivery, Postmaster General Donahoe has not only shown his complete disregard for the good of the USPS’s consumers, but he has also ignored the will of Congress. For decades, Congress has mandated six-day delivery. Congress must act to protect rural communities, small businesses, the elderly, and the disabled, among others by reasserting its authority over the U.S. Postal Service and stopping it from making such an irresponsible decision.
