An overwhelming majority of Americans support the Postal Service’s plan to end Saturday mail delivery, according to a poll conducted by The New York Times/CBS News.
The survey found that about 7 in 10 Americans say they would favor the change as a way to help the post office deal with billions of dollars in debt. The Postal Service continues to suffer losses of $36 million a day and is headed for projected losses of about $21 billion a year by 2016.
The poll found that more than 8 in 10 Americans use the Postal Service at least sometimes, including 38 percent who use it all the time and 45 percent who use it mainly for bills. Just 16 percent use it only around the holidays or never.
But in a more ominous sign as the agency tries to adjust to the digital age, only three in 10 people under age 45 say they use it all the time. Usage rises to 42 percent among those aged 45 to 64 and a majority, 54 percent, of seniors.
Among those who use the service, the poll showed that 85 percent say it does a good to excellent job, essentially unchanged from a 2010 Gallup poll.
Patrick R. Donahoe, the postmaster general, said the poll confirms that Americans support the Postal Service’s plans for getting back on solid financial footing. “The results show Americans understand and accept that moving to a five-day delivery schedule is part of the solution,” Mr. Donahoe said.
The New York Times/CBS Poll on the Postal Service (Text)
The Times/CBS telephone poll was conducted nationally from June 22 through June 25 among 990 adults, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The survey findings come as legislation to overhaul the Postal Service is stuck in Congress. In May, the Senate passed a bill that would provide retirement incentives for nearly 100,000 of the service’s 547,000
workers. A House bill, which has yet to come to a vote, would create a commission much like one that recommended military base closings to oversee the shutting down of post offices and mail-processing centers.
The Senate bill would also allow the agency to offer a broader range of services to raise revenue, including delivering beer and wine for retailers. The agency would also recoup more than $11 billion that it
had overpaid into a pension fund. The bill would also restructure payments the Postal Service makes into a health benefits fund for future retirees. Under a 2006 law, the agency has to pay $5.5 billion annually
into the fund, which the service said had added $20 billion in debt to its balance sheet since 2007.
The House has not said when it would begin debate and vote on its version of a postal overhaul.
One of the main points of contention in both pieces of legislation has been the elimination of mail deliveries on Saturday. The Postal Service has said ending a day of delivery each week would save $3.1 billion annually.
The Senate bill would only allow the agency to study the elimination of Saturday deliveries if it could not cut other costs in the next two years.
The House bill allows the Postal Service to end Saturday deliveries without a two-year delay. President Barack Obama also supports letting the Postal Service end Saturday delivery.
But a number of businesses, including mail-order pharmacies like CVS and Medco, are opposed, saying eliminating Saturday delivery would delay orders for prescription drugs, creating difficulties for patients.
Many small daily and weekly newspapers, which are delivered on Saturday, say they are also opposed to the Postal Service only delivering the mail five days a week.
“It does no good for last week’s newspaper to arrive on a Monday,” said Tonda Rush, chief executive of the National Newspaper Association, a trade group of small weekly and dailies. “By then its history, not news.”
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