If you have a business that relies heavily on mail, you may have one less day to reach your deadlines. On March 30, the USPS formally asked the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to allow deliveries to occur Monday to Friday only.
According to a press release sent out by the USPS, “The Postal Service does not take this change lightly and would not propose it if six-day mail service could be supported by current volumes. There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”
With Congress debating the subject now, it seems most of the PRC feels this step would further hurt the USPS and could actually, “further erode mail volumes and harm the agency.”
DM News goes on to report that “the Postal Service lost $3.8 billion in its 2009 fiscal year, and its leaders have projected a net loss of nearly $7 billion this fiscal year.” This could be due to more and more people communicating electronically.
If your business sends out mailings, you may need to streamline your efforts to ensure you get your mailings out in due time. One way to do this is by implementing a postage meter in-house. Postage meters are a great option because they can save a lot of time and money for your business.
Because you don’t have to go to the post office, postage machines allow you to stay in the office and get more tasks done. They also print out the exact dollar amount for your postage—which means no more rounding up postage costs.
If the USPS does indeed get their wish, and Saturday deliveries are halted, what will this mean for post office traffic on Mondays? It could increase traffic at your local post office, taking away time you could be spending doing something else. This is where postage scales can really help out the small business owners and home based businesses.
We will all have to wait and see what happens, but for now you should be thinking ahead of the game, and plan all mailings accordingly. Even if you don’t work on Saturdays, your Friday mailings may be delayed a day or two. Implementing a postage meter could help you get your mailings out quicker, keeping your clients informed and happy.
