Local News Comments

As a Postal Worker myself, I believe this will be good for the Postal Service. The better chances we get to be back in the black and try to keep some overhead down, it will in turn hopefully keep some of the prices down for customers as well.

personally, snail mail (i'm mainly talking about bills/letters/correspondence, not packages) is more of an annoyance these days than anything else.. what with email, paperless billing and online payments..

of course, some (including local) companies are still stuck in the stone-age: wont do paperless billing, or their online payment system charges a hefty "convenience fee" (like TUD.. 3.95$ to pay online, thats a joke).

obviously any sort of down-sizing or reduction that could mean the loss of jobs is unfortunate, but the postal service is doomed, in my opinion.

Appears to be typical Government run entity. Raise costs and do less. So curious to know where the profit will go this time. Another sign how broken the Government is. This is Pathetic !

WHAT common sense , wat is there angle ?

Why would anyone be surprised about what is happening with the postal service. Large union pensions have done a lot of damage, but then we all know that, but now with online bill pay and e-bills, a lot of revenue is gone from the post office. Do people even write letters anymore? The post office, like all government offices, already has a lot of no-delivery days because of all of their holidays, so what is one more no-delivery day.

They lose $2 billion annually ? It's way past time to do something about this failed government agency. The government fails at almost everything.
Let's get rid of 90% of government.

I'd say this is a good decision....about time!

I've always wondered how much money they spend on design and printing of all the different stamps. Couldn't we have just one stamp and cut out all the costs associated with creating, printing and distributing all the different stamps they come up with?

I have a better idea. Close the post office tues-thurs, and have 12 hour days on Saturday and Sunday.Actually serve the people at a time when productive, employed people can use their services. As it is now, unless you work nearby, you have to take time off work to go there. Bad business model.

The mail is nothing but a hassle. The only 'mail' I send is the occasional greeting card. I pay all my bills online. Seriously, it costs almost a dollar to mail two pieces of mail... that's ridiculous. And the cost to mail packages is outlandish. We don't *need* Saturday service. I'd say we could do with snail mail delivery & pickup 2 or 3 days a week, even.

Why do I think the postal service spent tens of millions of dollars to conduct study after study to determine if ending Saturday mail would be a "good idea?"

Government, humanities biggest failure....

Ryan~~TUD doesn't charge a fee any longer to make a payment on line or on the telephone. Just so you know.

I use USPS for shipping smaller lighter packages that need to be insured, What costs me at USPS 9 bucks is 58-62 bucks at UPS or Fedex.

@realsuzieq, thanks for the update. TUD might want to update the information posted on their website to reflect this change.

TUD offering e-billing/paperless billing would be a nice thing, too. Assuming, again, they don't already offer said service but have outdated information on their website...

Get's any slower we might want to get Pony Express back ...

i hate to see anyone lose job or working hours

The Post Office is not a government-run agency. It is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal services. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. It hasn't received any government funding since the early 1980's. The reason it is in such dire straits at present is that Congress passed an act in 2006 requiring it to pre-fund its employee pension plan, at the rate of $5.5 billion a year, rather than pay on an as-you-go basis. Its current operating loss of $2 billion a year is due to the sharp drop in first class mail deliveries due to email etc. This is what the cessation of Saturday deliveries and other measures is aimed at curing.

The article actually said by cutting Saturdays "it will save $2 billion annually. Last year alone the postal service had a net loss of $15.6 billion".

I wonder where the remaining $13.6 billion in savings will come from?

I think it is a good idea, but you all might want to understand that not everyone has a computer and can't pay there bills online or by bill pay. So they have to send in there bills by paper. Something else to remember is PG&E and other companies charge $5.00 to pay by phone and I learned to pay your fire fee online they also charge. Another note is even if you pay by bill pay and that company doesn't have your bank in there system then they send it out by check but have it there on the day you request for payment, well there are companies that hold those for up to 2 weeks before posted so then you are late. So I still have 1 bill I send thru the mail because of it. It sucks. They get us every way they can.. It sucks!

So now they only will lose $13 billion a year. Sounds like progress in government terms. Personally, Monday/Wednesday/Friday delivery only would be fine. The vast majority of it ends up in the trash unopened, so what difference does it make?

Who cares. I only get 8 bills I need in the mail every month. ...And probably 110 pieces of unopened garbage basically.

Thank you mcarden. People need to research before typing. The postal Service is less expensive to mail or ship anything. Check the cost at fedex or UPS and compare! The postal service is also FASTER! If I mail a parcel or letter from Tuolumne County, it is delivered to Chico next day, or to Oklahoma in 2 days. I just recieved a package this morning from New Jersey that was mailed Tuesday afternoon for $3.14. No one can beat that!
USPS does not print all stamps. They just sell them. If you want stamps with your face on them you can, just like checks.
Cutting Saturday delivery is a good idea. The post offices will still be open for people who can't get there during the week, however hours MAY BE shorter.
FYI..USPS is always looking for part time and relief drivers! Go to USPS.com for info