It’s time for us to change our expectations and ask: Do we require daily mail delivery?

Face it, information transfer requirements have changed. Presently, many legal documents and most payments of bills are transmitted electronically; trhe paper check is all but an anachronism.

We citizens need to step back and determine our present individual needs from this governmental function of ours, as it’s going broke from not being used as originally intended – a reliable method of transferring information and smaller packages.

Nevertheless, the Postal Service does perform important functions for us with its delivery of personal communications, periodic vouchers, advertisements and various items – but do these need daily delivery?

When was the last time you mailed a communication that was absolutely time-critical by one day? You haven’t – you’ve phoned or transferred your information electronically. Why, then, do you and I hang on to our absolute daily delivery requirement when it would resolve major financial issues for our postal service?

Consider this: mail delivery every other day. You would receive mail Monday, Wednesday and Friday or Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The Postal Service delivery staff could then be diminished by at least one third to one half, saving billions of dollars per year.

Yes, such a change might require some organizations to change their mail processes and yes, we’d all have to change our expectations, but we’re talking about changing mail delivery by just one day and no other functions.

As citizens, we have obligations to help government resolve issues and adjust levels of service based on our essential requirements. Receiving mail every day versus every other day? In my opinion, that’s an insignificant difference. Saving $5 billion per year? That’s significant. We should make the change.

Stephen Gorden

North Yarmouth

Copy the Story Link