Friday, March 01, 2013

Postal Service says newspapers would be only mailing group hurt if it cuts Saturday mail delivery

Several lobbying interests are trying to get Congress to keep the U.S. Postal Service from ending non-package Saturday delivery, but the postmaster general says the service "has identified only one group of commercial mailers that could lose by the elimination of Saturday first-class mail delivery - small newspapers that do not have their own Saturday deliverers," Elvina Nawaguna of Reuters reports.

Joining newspaper organizations in lobbying the issue are those representing greeting card makers, paper manufacturers and letter carriers. Reuters reports Rafe Morrissey, postal-affairs vice president at the card group, "said eliminating Saturday delivery could dampen people's willingness to send greeting cards while also driving away revenue for the Postal Service."

The National Newspaper Association, which argues that eliminating Saturday delivery will hurt rural areas as well as commercial mailers, has scheduled an informational and lobbying day for its members in Washington March 14. Max Heath, chairman of the group's Postal Committee, told Reuters, "It's not over until it's over." (Read more)

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