"Neither rain, nor snow, nor...well, okay maybe six-day delivery."
U.S. Postmaster General John E. Potter has just asked a congressional panel to consider allowing the Post Office to drop six-day delivery. The requirement for guaranteed delivery, six days per week was established in 1983. A drop in revenue (the first decline for the U.S. Postal Service since 1946) has already put the Post Office $2.8 billion in the red, due to declining mail volume and rising costs.
"It is possible that the cost of six-day delivery may simply prove to be unaffordable," Potter said. "I reluctantly request that Congress remove the annual appropriation bill rider, first added in 1983, that requires the Postal Service to deliver mail six days each week."
Which day may be cut?
I know what you're thinking - Saturday. Right? Not so fast there turbo. The Post Office is considering cutting a day with the "lightest volume." Postmaster Potter, please:
"The ability to suspend delivery on the lightest delivery days, for example, could save dollars in both our delivery and our processing and distribution networks. I do not make this request lightly, but I am forced to consider every option given the severity of our challenge,"
additionally, Mr. Potter says, that if it did become necessary to go to five-day delivery,
"we would do this by suspending delivery on the lightest volume days."
If the change is made, Saturday may not be the day eliminated. Previous studies have looked at the possibility of skipping some other day, such as Tuesday.
More headaches for online sellers...
If this change is made, how it will affect sellers is unclear. For Amazon sellers, shipping is required within two "business days" of a sale. If the U.S. mail doesn't run on a "business day" - could a seller be penalized? For eBay sellers the result is more clear. Buyers and sellers alike will have more to complain about. Buyers will complain because their packages take longer to arrive. Sellers will complain because buyers will now be more likely to leave low DSR scores for reasons beyond the seller's control.
The best thing to do at this point is formulate a plan of action if this change goes through. Likely, good communication between seller and buyer will be the most practical solution.
Amazon will probably deal smoothly and reasonably with any changes. They will simply alter their 2-day policy.
eBay will likely respond with an additional way to sort search results based on the day that has the lightest mail delivery volume in an area a seller has sold to within the past 90 days, plus the two largest adjoining zip codes to said area. This will only apply to sellers with DSRs of 4.2 or higher. If a seller has a DSR of 4.1 or lower, they will have to use FedEx instead of the Post Office, as long as their lightest mail volume day is not Saturday. This will all be accomplished with an algorithm which has yet to be developed.
eBay may not be to blame for this entire situation. But lower sales through eBay mean millions of packages not being shipped. It's amazing how far-reaching the consequences of bad decision making can be.
