Proposed USPS Fix: End Door-to-Door Service

Rep. Darrell Issa says he has a potential solution to the Postal Service's money problem: Mail carriers could stop delivering your items right to your door. The House Oversight Committee is poised to vote on the proposal—potentially affecting 37 million homes and businesses—today. It could cut costs by some $4.5 billion annually, USA Today reports. Door-to-door delivery costs about $353 per stop each year, while curbside delivery clocks in at $224 and neighborhood cluster boxes at $160, according to the Postmaster General.

"A balanced approach to saving the Postal Service means allowing USPS to adapt to America's changing use of mail,'' Issa says. "Done right, these reforms can improve the customer experience through a more efficient Postal Service." In fact, some new housing developments are already set to see the cluster-box approach, CNNMoney notes. But unions are less than thrilled: "The idea that somebody is going to walk down to their mailbox in Buffalo, New York, in the winter snow to get their mail is just crazy," says a rep for the National Association of Letter Carriers. (More US Postal Service stories.)