Woodbridge Residents Question Elimination of Saturday Mail Service

When the news hit that the US Postal Service was going to stop the delivery of mail on Saturdays by August 1 to save money, Woodbridge residents were quick to comment.

Post offices will remain open Saturdays and package deliveries will occur on Saturdays, according to the US Postal Service.     

Some questioned why the move was necessary when other methods might've saved Saturday delivery and money as well.

According to the U.S. Postal Service, the reasons are continued economic struggles and the increasing use of the Internet for communications and bill paying by consumers. The Postal Service is also the only federal agency required to pre-fund health benefits for retirees, and those costs are escalating quickly.  

"Once again our [federal government] is short sighted," said Joe Zagorski, commenting on Woodbridge Patch's Facebook page. "Instead of doing buy outs and giving early retirements, the taxpayers lose a service."

Anna Baldassarre heard that the move would save the postal service $2 billion. "My question is, where is this money going? Is it going to help save the taxpayers money by not getting constant increases?" she asked.

The postal service didn't say whether the stopping of Saturday mail delivery would have an effect on the constant increases in the cost of postage.

Gwen Bury Erdman noted that it was "bad news for the postal workers."

She added, "But really, most people pay their bills online, and with all the social media, no one sends letters anymore."

Some residents were less sympathetic to postal employees.

"I see a mailman in my area park his truck down the street every day from 4 pm to 5:30 pm and just sit there in his truck talking on the phone, piling up [overtime] or [his] pension...on my dollar!" exclaimed Evelyn York.

"If all mailmen did this and we have all that [overtime], no wonder our postage goes up. Greedy people wind up with nothing!"

Zagorski also noticed mailman finishing up work early. "I see many postal workers end their routes by lunch. Perhaps give them more deliveries and cut staffing there as well," he said.

Arthur Dando argued that the postal service is indespensible. "We need the USPS. They stop the corporations (Fed Ex and UPS) from killing us with delivery prices."

"Do we NEED our Christmas cards [delivered] on Saturday? I think not," Dando said.

Most people seemed to accept the change with equanimity. "It's [one] less day to have to sort through all the junk to find any important stuff.  Make it Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays as far as I'm concerned," Zagorski said.

Rosie Venezia Singalewitch was "sad to see it go."

"But I understand why," she added. "It's an electronic age."

But perhaps Kathie Dimevskj had the most optimistic outlook on the elimination of Saturday mail delivery. "At least the weekend doesn't have to be ruined by getting more bills," she laughed.

Follow Woodbridge Patch on Facebook, Twitter and sign up for the daily newsletter.