Board Says Postal Service Can’t Cut Saturday Delivery

The U.S. Postal Service does not have legal authority to end Saturday mail delivery without authorization from Congress and must halt its plans to make that cut in August, its board said, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.

The board’s action follows a Government Accountability Office opinion last month that said the Postal Service did not have the authority to end Saturday delivery, which officials said would save about $2 billion annually, Bloomberg said.

“The board believes that Congress has left it with no choice but to delay this implementation at this time,” the board said in a statement, though it said it supports cutting Saturday delivery when allowed to do so.

“The board also wants to ensure that customers of the Postal Service are not unduly burdened by ongoing uncertainties and are able to adjust their business plans accordingly,” the statement added.

The board directed Postal Service management to find other ways to lower labor costs, including attempting to reopen contract negotiations with its unions, Bloomberg reported.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has said he relied on a new interpretation of law governing the service, based on the fact the government is operating with temporary funding, to declare he did not need Congress’s permission to reduce first-class delivery to five days a week.