Trump Budget Could Cut Mail Delivery

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President Donald Trump's budget could scale back mail delivery on Saturdays, despite opposition from Republicans, Democrats, and postal workers, The Washington Post reports.

In the budget's appendix, on page 1,207 of 1,284, a line reads: "the budget proposes operational reforms to reduce costs and improve revenue, including … authority to reduce mail delivery frequency where there is a business case for doing so."

The U.S. Postal Service relies on sales, not tax dollars, for survival. Many postal officials have tried to persuade legislators that cutting mail delivery on Saturdays is necessary with the agency's ongoing financial struggles.

Four years ago, former Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe attempted to end mail delivery on Saturdays, with the exception of packages. The leading Senate Democrat at the time, Harry Reid of Nevada, said Donahoe had "damaged his reputation with congressional leaders."

He was later dismissed by a unanimous vote of the National Rural Letter Carriers Association board, and his plan ended.

"Congress has made clear it would not support cutting mail delivery from six to five days, and for good reason. Eliminating a critical competitive advantage, Saturday mail delivery, would kick off a vicious cycle of increasing volume reductions, service standard degradation, and customer alienation," Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-Va., is co-sponsoring the Postal Service Reform Act of 2017, told The Post.

"We've finally got a postmaster general that understands that six-day delivery is an asset. It would be foolish for the Trump administration to re-litigate this debate."

American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein added that it's "widely accepted now that a reduction in delivery days would hurt the people of this country and the businesses of this country."