News

The U.S. Postal Service has announced that it will cancel plans to end Saturday mail delivery this summer, saying the new stopgap budget that Congress recently passed would prohibit the move.

The postal service’s board of governors made the decision Tuesday, according to a statement from the agency.

“The board believes that Congress has left it with no choice but to delay this implementation at this time,” the board said in the statement. “The board also wants to ensure that customers of the Postal Service are not unduly burdened by ongoing uncertainties and are able to adjust their business plans accordingly.”

Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe announced in February that the Postal Service planned to halt Saturday mail delivery — but not Saturday parcel delivery — starting in August. He said the move would save the agency $2 billion a year. The Postal Service lost $15.9 billion last year.

A short-term budget that Congress and the president recently approved to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year includes language requiring six days of delivery.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) criticized the postal board’s decision, saying the move was politically motivated.

“This reversal significantly undercuts the credibility of Postal officials who have told Congress that they were prepared defy political pressure and make difficult but necessary cuts,” said the congressman in a statement. “Despite some assertions, it’s quite clear that special interest lobbying and intense political pressure played a much greater role in the Postal Service’s change of heart than any real or perceived barrier to implementing what had been announced.”

The postal board has indicated that it still hopes to end Saturday mail delivery as Congress works toward a potential plan to overhaul the Postal Service.

“Delaying responsible changes to the Postal Service business model only increases the potential that the Postal Service may become a burden to the American taxpayer, which is avoidable,” the group said in its statement.

The Board will continue to support the transition to a new national delivery schedule and said such a transition will generate approximately $2 billion in annual cost savings and is a necessary part of a larger five-year business plan to restore the Postal Service to long-term financial stability. According to numerous polls, this new delivery schedule is widely supported by the American public.

To read the statement from the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governers. visit www.usps.com.