The U.S. Postal Service may cut one day of mail delivery per week due to budget deficits, possibly affecting AU students and the university mail delivery system.
Postmaster General John E. Potter proposed the delivery cuts to Congress on Jan. 28, asking the legislators to rescind the requirement that mail be delivered six times per week in order to compensate for the U.S. Postal Service's deficit of $2.8 million last year, according to The Washington Post. The post office will likely face a $6 billion loss this fiscal year unless action is taken, Potter told the Post.
Delivery on the day with the lightest average mail flow would be suspended, which could be Saturdays or Tuesdays, according to the Washington Post.
Depending on the day eliminated, AU's mail system may be strained, according to AU Director of Facilities Administration and Financial Services Anthony Williams.
AU students can pick up their packages from the residence hall front desks Monday through Saturday. However, mail is only delivered to campus Monday through Friday.
"We are waiting to see which way it goes," Williams said. "Hopefully it is Saturday."
If mail delivery is cut on Saturday, AU will not be affected, Williams said. However, the removal of Tuesday delivery will be difficult, he said.
"It will be a challenge if it is Tuesday, not just here at AU, but also in the world," Williams said. Many paychecks and business operations depend on Tuesday delivery, he said.
Ed Gilhool, associate director of Housing and Dining Programs, said he is confident that AU will be able to handle any possible increase in mail as a result of the Postmaster General's proposal.
"We could easily anticipate an increase in the Monday mail volume as a result of the proposal, but feel it will remain manageable overall," he said in an e-mail. "Once we know more, we will be able to evaluate our current processes and minimize, to the best of our ability, the impact it may have on students."
Due to the large volume of mail in Anderson and Centennial Halls, students pick up their packages in a separate room during certain hours, while North side residents do not have scheduled hours. The university is discussing the possibility of reconfiguring the Anderson-Centennial Hall desk area during the summer of 2010 to improve package pick-up, Gilhool said.
"We are exploring design options that could increase our ability to offer more regular package delivery to students," he said. "As of now, however, no specific decisions have been made."
Kate Lindsay is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences and a resident assistant who occasionally works in the Anderson-Centennial mailroom. She said that every package must be logged in and notices of packages must be e-mailed to students. There are often long lines of students waiting to pick up their mail, she said.
Two days without mail delivery may make the situation more difficult, she said.
"It may be hard with an extra day off because so much mail comes in on Mondays from Sunday," Lindsay said. "Two days off could possibly clog up the system with two days of mail in one."
Margot Kaplan, a freshman in CAS, said she did not care about the possible decrease in mail delivery until she heard package delivery would possibly be included in the cuts. The only mail Kaplan sent recently was her absentee ballot, but she said she often shops online and receives packages from her mom.
With e-mail's popularity, old-fashioned snail mail is rare, according to some AU students.
Sara Rigdon, a junior in the School of International Service, said she rarely uses the post office and opts for e-mail and phone calls instead. She said one less day of mail service would not matter much to her.
"I don't even know how many days they're open now," Rigdon said.
You can reach this staff writer at landerson@theeagleonline.com.
