Most favor USPS cutbacks over gov't aid

[theflyingpostman]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/02/16/ ... 234800544/

PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Most people prefer service cutbacks over giving the U.S. Postal Service government assistance or raising stamp prices, a poll indicates.

Given a choice of the three options in a Gallup Poll released Monday, 57 percent of respondents favored Postal Service cutbacks, such as eliminating Saturday mail delivery and closing of thousands of local post office branches.

Some 27 percent preferred giving government assistance to the USPS, something it has not received since 1982, and only 14 percent opted for higher stamp prices.

Officials say the Postal Service has lost nearly $8 billion in a two-year span and is facing sharp declines in the amount of mail being sent, meaning similar or larger losses are likely in the future. The USPS has asked Congress for permission to cut back to five-day-a-week delivery, and has received permission to raise postage prices, which will go up in May.

The poll results were based on telephone interviews with 1,027 people between Jan. 30-Feb. 1 with a sampling error margin of 3 percentage points, Gallup officials said.

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