The Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service met April 9 and discussed the Continuing Resolution recently passed by Congress to fund government operations. By including restrictive language in the Continuing Resolution, Congress has prohibited implementation of a new national delivery schedule for mail and packages, which would consist of package delivery Monday through Saturday and mail delivery Monday through Friday, and which would have taken effect the week of Aug. 5, 2013.
Although "disappointed with this Congressional action," the Board said it will follow the law and has directed the Postal Service to delay implementation of its new delivery schedule until legislation is passed that provides the Postal Service with the authority to implement a financially appropriate and responsible delivery schedule. "The Board believes that Congress has left it with no choice but to delay this implementation at this time," a statement said.
The National Farmers Union welcomed the change, as it has long supported the USPS, especially rural mail delivery. The elimination of Saturday delivery would have a negative impact on the economy and would pose an unnecessary burden to customers of the Postal Service, NFU said.
“Many rural USPS customers depend heavily on weekend delivery, and eliminating it would have a negative impact on rural America. In many cases, local and regional newspaper delivery to outlying areas will be delayed for days," said NFU Vice President of Government Relations Chandler Goule. "This not only damages the circulation numbers of the newspaper, but also devalues local information and advertising.”