Despite grapevine gossip, the rumor that Mexico's Post Office is going to five-day delivery, is not true – at least not immediately.
According to Gateway Postal Service officials, Congress still has yet to remove the annual appropriation bill rider that requires the postal service to deliver mail six days each week – without this decision, no local changes can be made.
"The Postmaster General made this request several months ago to Congress to change to five-day delivery, and to move from six to five days requires an act of Congress," Gateway spokesperson Valerie Hughes told The Ledger Monday. "So, until Congress makes a new law, or amends the current law, we cannot go to five days."
Hughes said, to her knowledge the matter is still in the discussion phase.
"I know Congress is talking about it, and hopefully, strongly talking about it, and I would think we'd be the first to know, when and if they do (change)," she said.
Hughes said changing from a six-day to a five-day work week shouldn't cause much of an inconvenience to the postal service or the general public.
"I'm not going to speculate on how a five-day delivery will affect the community," Hughes said. "But, I can say that for every major holiday, the postal service does five-day delivery and does well with it, and the public doesn't seem hurt by it.
"If it does go into effect, I think we will be able to adjust to it well."
Earlier this year, Postmaster General John E. Potter said in testimony for a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs subcommittee that "despite annual rate increases, 2009 could be the first year since 1946 that the actual amount of money collected by the post office declines."
"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 (but) the ability to suspend delivery on the lightest delivery days could save dollars in both our delivery and our processing and distribution networks."
The Postal Service raised the issue of cutting back on days of service last fall in a study it issued. At that time the agency said the six-day rule should be eliminated, giving the post office, "the flexibility to meet future needs for delivery frequency."
A study done by George Mason University last year for the independent Postal Regulatory Commission estimated that going from six-day to five-day delivery would save the post office more than $1.9 billion annually, while a Postal Service study estimated the saving at $3.5 billion.
Editor's Note: Some information for this article was provided by the Associated Press.