Saturday mail service will soon be a thing of the past.
The struggling United States Postal Service has unveiled a plan to reduce operating costs that includes reducing mail delivery to five days a week, Monday to Friday, according to news reports.
The change, which would go into effect on Aug. 1, only impacts first-class mail, while packages, mail-order medicines, priority and express mail would still get delivered on Saturdays, according to CBS News.
Post offices would still remain open on Saturdays, reports the Huffington Post.
Although the Postal Service "receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations," as stated on its website, it is governed by Congress, and had been hoping members would pass legislation to help lessen its financial burdens.
"It's unclear at the moment how the Postal Service has the authority to quit delivering letters on Saturdays. Previously, they've said they need Congress to change current law to do so," according to CNN Money.
But according to CBS News, lawyers for the Postal Service think that they have "figured out a way around the law."
Various news reports say the Postal Service needs tens of billions of dollars to be saved. In July 2011, the Postal Service announced the closure of 3,600 post offices across the country in an effort to save money. Currently, USPS operates on branch in West Islip on Union Blvd.
On Facebook, West Islip Patch readers seemed unfazed by the forthcoming loss of Saturday service.
Gail Sherwood wrote, “Won’t matter to me — hardly get any mail, if any on Saturday. Monday, I get twice as much as any other day.”
Peggy McHill Morris said, “We rarely get mail on Saturdays so it won’t make a difference to me. In the last few months we haven’t been receiving our weekday mail until after 4 p.m.”
Rick DeClue felt the move was a good one, especially with the expected costs savings for the Postal Service. “If stopping delivery on Saturday will save $2 billion, how about cutting residential delivery to every other day?” he asked. “Exceptions being business and priority mail. It would probably save another few billion.”
Greg Sleter contributed to this story.
