The president of the West Virginia Postal Workers Union doesn’t believe an announced move by the U.S. Postal Service to stop Saturday mail delivery will work.
“It’s not going to help the Postal Service by doing it,” Jeff Fazio said.
Beginning in August, mail will be delivered to homes and businesses only from Monday through Friday. The plan is an effort to save the financially struggling agency money.
Fazio said losing the Saturday delivery is just another step downward for the agency.
“You lose that one day that everybody wants their mail and regardless if it’s one letter or six letters, there is a lot of people out there, especially your rural communities, that depend on that mail every day,” said Fazio.
Now people will not be able to mail a letter on Friday in hopes of it being delivered on Saturday. It will be Monday before it arrives to it’s destination.
Fazio believes the U.S. Postal Service’s biggest problem lies within the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. He said Congress needs to repeal those provisions set back in 2006.
Under that law, the agency has to pay $5.5 billion annually into a health benefits fund for future retirees. The Postal Service is the only federal agency that prepays its future retiree health obligations.
The Postal Service said the provision has added $20 billion in debt to its balance sheet since 2007. In 2012, the Postal Reform Act was passed that lowered the amount of the prepayments and allowed the agency to stretch them out over 40 years.
Even with the 2012 bill, the agency continued to face financial difficulties and has been looking for ways to cut costs and stay afloat including the shutting down or reducing of hours at around 13,000 post offices nationwide.
Fazio said Wednesdays announcement is just another blow to Postal Service workers.
“The moral is completely low in all the facilities and post offices around because we operate day-to-day not knowing what the fate is right now,” said Fazio.
The West Virginia Postal Workers Union has around 1,000 members in the state and represents motor vehicle, clerk and maintenance workers employed by the Postal Service.
Both U.S. Senator Joe Manchin and Third District Congressman Nick Rahall released statements Wednesday regarding the mail delivery change adding that they were disappointed in the decision.
Through the plan, the Postal Service projects an annual savings of around $2 billion.
Mail will continue to be delivered to post office boxes on Saturdays under the plan. Post offices now open on Saturdays will remain open on Saturdays. In addition, packages will remain on a six day a week delivery schedule.
