Postal service is not meant to profit

When will we realize that the Post Office is a service of government and not a business [“USPS still to deliver packages Saturday,” page one, Feb. 7]?

We don’t expect the Department of Education or Department of Defense to make a profit or break even. Why should we expect the Post Office to do so?

Let’s keep the Saturday delivery and come to grips with the fact that the Post Office doesn’t operate to make money.

--David C. Wigglesworth, Kirkland

Saturday mail won’t be missed

People won’t miss the delivery of mail on Saturdays. Most, like myself, probably don’t even pick up their Saturday mail until Sunday anyway.

What the elimination of Saturday delivery will do is help the USPS get solvent and continue to be able to deliver the service that they’ve been called upon to do, without the elimination of anyone’s job.

The mail carriers are, for the most part, a graying workforce, with many retiring in the very near future. This move will enable the carriers to have Saturday and Sunday off versus the current method where they now have Sunday and a rotating weekday off. The USPS has on its payroll carriers whose sole job is to fill in for the weekday “weekend” days. Carriers who are used exclusively to fill routes on the days full-time carriers have one of their “weekend” days off can be used to fill open positions due to these retirements.

Combine this savings with the elimination of the unreasonable requirement to pre-fund the retirees health benefits and we’ll be able to continue to have the best, most far-reaching mail delivery service in the world.

--Robert Oberlander, Issaquah