(Spirit Lake)– A move by the U-S Postal Service to increase efficiency during a time of greatly reduced volume means some people are seeing a change in when their mail is delivered.
Spirit Lake Post Master Jack Daniels says the U-S Postal Service’s Des Moines-based Hawkeye District alone has seen total mail volume drop by nearly 12 percent. The district includes more than 800 post offices across Iowa.
Daniels says based on that, they had to make changes to operations, staffing and facilities. He says that included combining some city routes.
For now, Daniels says rural routes are not affected. But he says they could see some changes as well as Post Masters were asked to review those as well earlier this month.
Daniels says they may be forced to make even more dramatic changes down the road if things don’t improve soon. He says that could include the elimination of Saturday delivery. But he says it would take an act of congress for that to happen and he doubts that would take place yet this year.
Daniels says an unprecendented agreement signed last year with the National Association of Letter Carriers allowed the Postal Service to move quickly to make the necessary changes.
