Politics & Government

Saturday Mail Delivery to End, Postal Service Announces

The U.S. Postal Service announced it will end Saturday mail delivery by Aug. 1. Speak out: How will this affect you?

The U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday morning that it will eliminate Saturday delivery of mail by Aug. 1. This news comes only a few weeks after the increase in stamp prices and over a year since the Freehold Borough Post Office closed, making Monmouth County the only New Jersey county to not have a post office in its county seat.

According to the U.S. Postal Service,  the six-days-per-week mail delivery business model “no longer sustainable”.

The plan to change delivery from six days a week to five would only affect first-class mail. Packages, mail-order medicines, priority and express mail would still be delivered on Saturdays, and local post offices will remain open for business Saturdays.

Find out what's happening in Manalapanwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to the U.S. Postal Service, the reasons are continued economic struggles and the increasing use of the Internet for communications and bill paying by consumers. The U.S. Postal Service is also the only federal agency required to pre-fund health benefits for retirees, and those costs are escalating quickly.

“Our current business model of delivering mail six days a week is no longer sustainable. We must change in order to remain an integral part of the American community for decades to come.”

Find out what's happening in Manalapanwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Saturday is the lightest mail delivery day by volume and many businesses are closed on Saturdays, according to the U.S. Postal Service. However, many residents receive print magazines and ads on Saturdays in the mail that may be shifted to another day.

A Rasmussen poll on mail delivery in 2012 showed “Three-out-of-four Americans (75%) would prefer the U.S. Postal Service cut mail delivery to five days a week rather than receive government subsidies to cover ongoing losses.”

A USA Today/Gallup poll in 2010 found the majority of U.S. residents surveyed were ok with eliminating Saturday delivery. The March 2010 telephone survey of 999 adults revealed people age 55 and older were more likely than younger people to have used the mail to pay a bill or send a letter in the past two weeks.

Manalapan Post Offices:

Tennent Post Office

420 Main St, Manalapan, NJ 07763

Open Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (closed for lunch from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.) Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon

Englishtown Post Office

9 Taylors Mills Rd, Manalapan, NJ 07726

Open Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

 

Speak out: How will this change affect you? Will you miss getting mail on Saturdays?


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here