In February, the United States Postal Service declared that it would stop delivering first-class mail on Saturday. However, they were ready to accept packages, express mail and drug mail orders on Saturdays as they are very important and save lives, but letters, catalogues, cards and invoices would be refused on weekends to save $2 billion by year. This important decision was announced as the 237-year-old government agency is on its way to saving money, as the profit has been greatly reduced due to the popularity and recognition of online social networking and emails, which do not cost a penny to send messages except internet bills. Also, the postal service needs to raise funds for future retirees, especially for their health benefits, which has been mandated by Congress.
USPS statistics report that it suffers an annual loss of $15.9 billion, which is higher than the loss of the previous year. Benefit costs for future retirees amounted to $11.1 billion of the loss. To increase revenue for this department, Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe increased the cost of postage stamps by between 1 cent and 46 cents. Congress has delayed the implementation of the non-Saturday service to help thousands of Americans, who depend on this service despite its expensive fees.
In fact, the USPS was forced to postpone their move until legal legislation is passed giving the USPS authority to implement an appropriate and financially responsible delivery schedule. There are about 520,000 employees in the Postal Service and the plan must be implemented to restore long-term financial stability. However, analysts believe that this change alone cannot generate long-term sustainable revenue for the Postal Service and requires larger reforms not only to reduce costs but also to open up new avenues to generate more revenue.
In fact, the operations and problems of courier services are also similar to those of the postal service, faced with the explosion of less expensive instant electronic communications. Private delivery service, like Smart Delivery services, focuses on how to be financially viable in these difficult times. Economic analysts are of the opinion that the USPS can form an alliance with international courier and logistics companies such as Smart Delivery Service, since we mainly focus on certain areas that cannot be compensated by email such as medical courier, confidential legal courier and storage. . We customize delivery according to customers’ speed, vehicle size and time factors. In fact, remaining viable, self-sufficient, and innovative in business tactics definitely helps postal and courier services to sustain themselves during this massive electronic age.
