Publishers May Pay to Preserve Saturday Delivery

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) estimated its plan to end most Saturday deliveries would have added $2B annually to its beleaguered bottom line. Now the governors are looking for other ways to get that money, and instead of an across-the-board increase they’re suggesting that the hikes be targeted at allegedly unprofitable mail.

Despite extensive downsizing by the Postal Service and better preparation of catalogs and magazines by mailers, USPS claims its costs of handling flat mail have risen rapidly in recent years. Some postal experts blame USPS’s cost-accounting system, which tends to allocate the costs of “automation refugees” and other inefficiencies