No Saturday delivery from Postal Service will affect UNT
Amy Scaggs / Contributing Writer
UNT students may run into trouble when the U. S. Postal Service stops mail delivery on Saturday in August as is planned, mail sorter Edgar Dukes said.
The Postal Service plans to stop Saturday mail delivery across the country as part of its plan to cut spending and reduce its $15.9 billion in losses from last year, according to an article by The Washington Post.
“The turn around won’t be what students are used to,” Dukes said. “Not having Saturday mail will have a big impact on this campus.”
The change would affect UNT’s in-house post office in the University Union, which relies on the Denton post office at 101 East McKinney St.
UNT’s post office handles nearly 6 million pieces of mail a year, according to its website. Divided evenly between six days a week excluding Saturday, close to 19,000 mail pieces are processed every day. The office will still have the same hours, but will not be receiving any new mail on Saturdays.
Mail manager Phil Hoeferkamp said Saturdays are not any less busy than other days of the week, even though hours of service are shorter – from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. instead of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The largest problem students will likely have is dealing with time-sensitive documents through mail.
“That’s what upsets me,” business senior Graham Grace said. “I am busy during the week and don’t usually have time to pick up or mail important things during the week.”
Pre-electrical engineering junior George Calsadillas said he worries about tax documents or money taking longer to arrive.
If students can’t receive or send items as fast, it may be more difficult to file taxes or pay bills on time, he said.
No Saturday deliveries will change employee workloads, Duke said.
“It gives us a double-whammy on Monday,” he said. “We will have twice the amount of mail as usual, so we may not get it sorted until Tuesday.”
Duke also said that mix-ups and people incorrectly addressing mail, which already take time to figure out, will prolong the delivery more.
The change would also affect faculty, and the in-house post office employees.
“I disagree with it,” customer service buffer Janet Padrones said. “It won’t just be inconvenient for students, but will also make our work harder.”
Although the in-house post office must wait for the Postal Service to decide implementation measures, Hoeferkamp has contacted the Denton location and is awaiting a response.
The USPS has the explanation of United States Postal Service which is considered to be the largest postal service across the U.S. nation as per the sources.