Little Rock Ark.; (KTHV)--Rain, sleet or snow, the mail will be delivered but not on Saturdays, it's a new effort to save money. The new five day a week delivery schedule is all about saving the post office $2 billion a year. Automatic drafts and online payments are causing the post office to lose money, so they are taking some pretty big steps to make up for that lost profit.
A reliable service is making a few changes. "I send out mail once every two weeks, or once every week," says Little Rock resident Jason Hall. He will have to start sending those letters Monday through Friday and not the weekends if he wants them delivered promptly. "I'm off a lot so I normally do my business on Saturdays," explains Hall.
The post office announced last week they are stopping Saturday mail delivery to save a couple billion dollars. "We are going to keep our package service delivery on Saturdays so for people that receive medication or gifts or anything like that will be delivered on Saturday," says Leisa Tolliver-Gay.
Tolliver Gay is a spokesperson for the U.S. Post Office, she adds the cut backs are all about cutting cost for the agency that lost more than $15 million last year. The Post Office won't start the new five day a week delivery until summer. In a world where many use the internet to send emails and pay bills, Hall says the decision is not too surprising. "I understand them saving money, the fact that we all rely on email, cell phones, text messages and everything electronically now days but there are still generations that do hard copies and just like a normal handwritten letter."
The Post Office will stop delivering mail on Saturdays in August, but again packages will still run. Tolliver-Gay says mail will still be delivered to those with a P.O. Box. A spokesperson for the Post Office also tells us if a Post Office is open on Saturdays in your town--they will keep those hours even after August but won't be making any deliveries.