In the earliest days of the United States Postal Service, the agency delivered the mail seven days a week, rain, snow or shine. But in 1912, something strange started happening, church attendance was dropping! Looking for the source, ministers and priests noticed people were using post offices as gathering places and appealed to the government to end Sunday delivery and bring their congregations back.

Obviously the measure passed and with it came the end of Sunday delivery. Today though, the push to cut a day from the USPS’s delivery schedule is not coming from a group of concerned clergy, it is coming from within the agency itself.

Running an $8.5 billion deficit, the USPS believes they can save $3.1  billion  annually by switching to  a shorter work week. According to the USPS, a shorter work week will lead to better productivity and efficiency, cost savings from lower highway transportation costs and mail processing expenses.

While this might sound terrible to the everyday person, many marketers and commercial printers are actually happy about the decision, which might seem strange when their business hinges on the USPS.

The truth is direct marketers and their printers have been preparing for changes in mail service for some time.  The common view is that cutbacks to the mail service are acceptable as long as they protect the mail service as a whole. Cutbacks, like removing Saturday mail service, may be the best option for the USPS to be viable, without further raising rates.

Direct mail is expected to grow 5.8 percent 2011, showing that that the work of the USPS is paying off. While overall mail volumes will likely never hit their past highs, there is still a strong purpose for the service. Moving forward Kopytek supports any action to keep the USPS moving in the right direction, while protecting the agency as a whole.