USPS Carriers Say They Bear Brunt Of Impact In Halting Saturday Delivery

The United States Postal Service has announced it will halt some Saturday deliveries. While the decision will affect the frequency in which customers receive mail, it will have more of an impact on mail carriers.

2/6/2013 Related Story: U.S. Postal Service To Cut Saturday Mail Delivery To Trim Costs

The president of the local Association of Letter Carriers said this is not a good move for the agency, but many workers and customers feel differently.

Nancy Smith is a USPS mail carrier and has been with the agency for nearly 30 years.

"It's changed quite a bit," Smith said. "Mail has picked up and dropped off, picked up, dropped off."

The U.S. Postmaster General's decision is a move that Smith isn't too worried about.

"I'm close to retirement," she said. "We've got a lot of young people that's in there that we don't know how it's going to affect them. I just really hope it doesn't come down to affecting anybody's jobs."

Chuck Hill has been in the courier business for almost a decade.

He said most couriers don't run on Saturdays and he supports whatever decision will keep the postal service afloat.

"The big thing is if it's going to save the post office enough money to stick around, then we need them," Hill said. "Couriers need them."

Since 2006, the agency has made drastic cuts by reducing the size of its workforce and slashing hours of service at about half the nation's post offices.

"For the clients that we have, as long as the five day a week didn't get interrupted, then that's the big thing," Hill said.

Smith said: "I haven't really had anybody on my route complain about not going to be able to their mail on Saturday."

Most customers seem satisfied with five-day service.

"I don't think we need mail six or seven days a week," customer Janet Nix said.

But we did find one man who feels this is not the right move for the agency.

"I really think they should leave things open," Darrell Johnson said. "There's too many people out there suffering."

As a carrier, Smith said customers need to express their opinions to the government.

"The voice of the customers is what needs to get out there," she said. "If they're really opposed to this, they need to contract their Congressmen and let them know their opinions on it."

U.S Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has announced his support for USPS plan.

He said in the long run, it is a good move for Americans.