Home Delivery of Mail on Its Way Out?

According to a report at cnn.com, some postmasters have already begun sending notifications to postal customers of the change. As with most things related to the Postal Service, it’s a matter of money.

A report by the Postal Service’s inspector general cited by cnn.com indicates that it costs $353 per stop for a personal mail delivery in most American cities. A curbside delivery costs $224, while the cluster box delivery costs just $160. The Postal Service currently spends $30 billion on mail delivery and replacing delivery-to-the-door in new housing communities could save $4.5 billion, more than the $3 billion in projected savings from stopping Saturday delivery.

For now, exiting delivery-to-the-door will continue unless Congress changes the law. Republican Congressman Darrell Issa wants to do just that, requiring everyone to pick up mail from a cluster box. Of course that means that many fewer mail carriers would be needed and that is not something that the postal workers’ unions want to have happen