Savings from ending Saturday mail doubted

WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- Dropping Saturday mail delivery would yield major savings, but maybe not the $3.1 billion claimed, the U.S. Government Accountability Office says.

A GAO report released Tuesday said the U.S. Postal Service's projection is based on cutting carriers' work hours and costs through attrition, layoffs and other factors while losing little mail volume.

But if much of the workload cannot be transferred to weekdays, up to $500 million of the savings might be lost, the GAO said. It also said the USPS may have underestimated the mail volume it would lose.

"The extent to which USPS can achieve cost savings and mitigate volume and revenue loss depends on how well and how quickly it can realign its operations, workforce, and networks; maintain service quality; and communicate with stakeholders," the report stated.

Ending Saturday mail would boost efficiency but "would also reduce service; put mail volumes and revenues at risk; eliminate jobs; and, by itself, be insufficient to solve USPS's financial challenges," the GAO said.