Friday, February 8, 2013

Quiet Saturdays

Tomorrow is Saturday, and beginning on Saturdays in August, the neighborhood will be a little quieter.  Letter carriers won't be around.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Postal Service announced Saturday deliveries will end in late summer.  USPS is swimming in red ink.  Costs are up.  Mail volume is down.  Options are limited.

I really like letter carriers.  They do their job in horrible weather, and sending a piece of mail from one end of the country to the other for 50 cents is an incredible baragain.

I told the story here several years ago.  It was about the letter carrier who trudged down a snowy street to make sure he delivered my mother's social security check.  That's service.  I told the letter carrier that it wasn't urgent.  Mom was OK and could have waited another day.  The letter carrier said no, he wanted her to have the check on time.

Saturdays will be different.  I'm not that old, but I'm of an age where I look forward to the afternoon mail, even if all I get is a catalog.

The Saturday visits will be missed, but I understand why they're disappearing.