Postmaster Wants to Drop Delivery 1 Day a Week

Massive deficits could force the postal service to cut out 1 day of mail delivery per week, the postmaster general told Congress today. John Potter asked lawmakers to lift the requirement that the agency deliver mail 6 days a week. "It is possible that the cost of 6-day delivery may simply prove to be unaffordable," Potter said.

Faced with dwindling mail volume and rising costs, the post office was $2.8 billion in the red last year and faces a $6 billion loss this year. Total mail volume was 202 billion items last year, more than 9 billion less than the year before, the largest single volume drop in history. And despite annual rate increases, Potter said, 2009 could be the first year since 1946 that the actual amount of money collected declines. (More financial crisis stories.)