Among postal customers, opinions were divided Wednesday.
Richard Findley, 67, who lives near the Manassas Post Office, said the only thing he receives in the mail these days are bills. Personal notes and cards have long migrated to e-mail.
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“I can’t see why a post office even operates on Saturday,” he said. “Nobody really needs mail.”
But outside the District post office at 20th Street and Florida Avenue NW, Dwayne Reed, an electrician who lives in Brookland, said he is concerned for the people who rely on checks in the mail.
“If you’re receiving a check on the first of the month from the government for Social Security or unemployment, the first may be a Saturday,” he said. “Those extra two days of waiting may be critical for people who rely on those checks for food.”
Anthony Duckett, who lives in Clinton and owns a commercial cleaning business, said the plan is unfair to customers.
“They are increasing Postal Service prices but decreasing the services they are offering,” said Duckett, who added that he receives most of his invoices and billing statements in the Saturday mail.
“That would put me a day or two behind in receiving it . . . so it would affect me greatly,” he said.
While first-class mail has always been the Postal Service’s biggest moneymaker, packages are a growing profit center. But they do not include catalogues, magazines, movies and small newspapers that rely on the post office for home delivery. Many of those mailers will probably adjust their delivery days.
About a third of the 4,000 newspapers represented by the National Newspaper Association rely on the post office for home delivery.
“Newspapers can deliver with contract carriers, but that requires setting up and managing routes, not to mention monitoring the contractors to make sure they do the job properly,” spokesman Stan Schwartz said. “Some newspapers just aren’t prepared to handle it.”
Netflix, the online movie rental service, said in a statement that ending Saturday delivery could make the company more profitable by lowering costs as subscribers move from DVDs to watching video streamed over the Internet.
The Postal Service’s annual loss for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 was the largest in the agency’s history. It is scheduled Friday to release financial results for October through December, typically its most profitable quarter.
Josh Hicks, Jeremy Borden, Alex Rudansky and Ovetta Wiggins contributed to this report.
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