As it faces mounting losses and declining mail volume, the U.S. Postal Service will ask Congress to cease Saturday mail deliveries as soon as August.
Under the proposed changes, the USPS would continue six-day deliveries of packages and would continue to deliver mail to post office boxes, while keeping open retail locations that currently operate on Saturdays.
By discontinuing Saturday mail deliveries, the USPS, which lost $15.9 billion in 2012, could save as much as $2 billion annually.
The USPS has faced a slew of financial difficulties since mail volume peaked in 2006. Losses are reportedly as high as $25 million a day, while volume has fallen off by 26 percent since 2006.
After exhausting its $15 billion borrowing authority last fall, the USPS has been forced to skip more than $11 billion in required payments for future retirees’ health care costs over the last two years, according to reports.
