The Pros and Cons of 5-Day USPS Mail Delivery

The number of items handled by the United States Postal Service each year is decreasing by the billions.

It's estimated that by the year 2020, the amount will be reduced by up to 55%. Therefore, the USPS needs to cut costs immediately or the organization will become a victim to a huge financial disaster.

In order to save $3.3 billion annually, the United States Postal Service is proposing to switch to a 5-day mail delivery week. If enforced, mail will no longer be delivered on Saturdays starting in 2011.

Here are the potential pros for entrepreneurs:

1) Reduced and/or more stable direct mail costs
Direct mail advertising via postcards, catalogs, and sales letters are extremely effective for many businesses. However, the costs to mail out these items increase nearly every year because of the USPS' financial problems. If they are able to cut costs by enforcing a 5-day mail delivery, the price of bulk postage could go down. If not, perhaps it won't increase as often.

2) An extra day to pay invoices
Like most entrepreneurs in this economy, many businesses are struggling to stay afloat. Mail not being delivered on Saturday gives them an extra day to pay an outstanding invoice or a bill. One day isn't much, but may occasionally be just enough to get the cash flow needed.

Here are the potential cons for entrepreneurs:

1) Late payments from your clients
Just like you have an extra day to pay your bills, now so will your clients. If you don't receive a much needed check by Friday, now you have to wait all the way until Monday. This can causes problems if your office rent or other expenses are due over the weekend.

2) Less time to organize mail
Credit card companies and other organizations receive thousands of pieces of mail a day, and have hired a Saturday staff to retrieve and process it. If Saturday mail is done away with, this means that these types of companies will only have 5 days a week to get the job done.

3) More airfare
You may or may not be aware of this, but the USPS does not have it's own airplanes like UPS and FedEx to transport mail. They use the same airlines you fly on - Southwest, United, Delta, etc.

If mail delivery is reduced to a 5-day week, many people may stop using the USPS - and may start using another mailing service or just email and fax. If this happens, this could drastically reduce the revenue paid to the airlines by the USPS. The airlines, in turn, may increase airfares to make up the difference.