No Mail on Saturday
With mail volume down and the postal deficit up to nearly $7 billion per year, the US Postal Service is considering eliminating deliveries on Saturday. My reaction: Good Shabbos!
Mail volume is down for several reasons: e-mail, electronic bill-payments, competition from private delivery services for packages, and finally the decline in business direct-mail advertising due to the Recession. The Postal Service has responded to the loss of revenue by hiking first-class postage to 44 cents, which has led to further reductions in mailing.
How long has it been since you received a personal letter in your mailbox? Older readers can probably recall getting such letters, even from people living in the same city. I can remember when it cost three cents to mail such a letter, and the mailman delivered twice per day! Today, once you have internet service, the marginal cost of sending a message is zero, and it arrives at the speed of light! The Postal Service has been slow to modernize, but even if it had been incredibly fast, there is no way that hand-delivery of messages could compete with electronic mail.
Eliminating Saturday delivery will save about $3 billion per year, nearly half of the annual deficit. Although we will have to wait until Monday to get the bills and circulars that we would otherwise have received on Saturday, we should support the change for fiscal reasons alone.
But Shabbos-observing Jews have another reason to support eliminating Saturday service: it will make it easier for Jews to work for the Postal Service without being expected to violate the Shabbos. In addition, the change will be a sign that the US Government considers Saturday a public day of rest, like Sunday and national holidays. If Government respects the Jewish Sabbath in this way, private employers are more likely to follow suit.
For the sake of elevating my Sabbath to the level of the Christian Sunday in the eyes of the American public, I will gladly wait two more days for my mail once per week.
Mail volume is down for several reasons: e-mail, electronic bill-payments, competition from private delivery services for packages, and finally the decline in business direct-mail advertising due to the Recession. The Postal Service has responded to the loss of revenue by hiking first-class postage to 44 cents, which has led to further reductions in mailing.
How long has it been since you received a personal letter in your mailbox? Older readers can probably recall getting such letters, even from people living in the same city. I can remember when it cost three cents to mail such a letter, and the mailman delivered twice per day! Today, once you have internet service, the marginal cost of sending a message is zero, and it arrives at the speed of light! The Postal Service has been slow to modernize, but even if it had been incredibly fast, there is no way that hand-delivery of messages could compete with electronic mail.
Eliminating Saturday delivery will save about $3 billion per year, nearly half of the annual deficit. Although we will have to wait until Monday to get the bills and circulars that we would otherwise have received on Saturday, we should support the change for fiscal reasons alone.
But Shabbos-observing Jews have another reason to support eliminating Saturday service: it will make it easier for Jews to work for the Postal Service without being expected to violate the Shabbos. In addition, the change will be a sign that the US Government considers Saturday a public day of rest, like Sunday and national holidays. If Government respects the Jewish Sabbath in this way, private employers are more likely to follow suit.
For the sake of elevating my Sabbath to the level of the Christian Sunday in the eyes of the American public, I will gladly wait two more days for my mail once per week.
Labels: "Saturday mail"
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