For years, Americans have relied on the United States Postal Service (USPS) to deliver mail six days a week, Monday through Saturday. Due to financial constraints because of a continued decline in mail volume, Saturday deliveries may be eliminated by the USPS in order to reduce costs.
The USPS remains an integral part of the economy and the country’s infrastructure even as the popularity of electronic payments and digital transactions have dramatically reduced the volume of mail processed by the USPS.
Of the more than 146.4 billion pieces of mail delivered in 2018, the most widely used service of the USPS is its first class mail service. As the volume of all mail has been dwindling, so has first class mail, falling from over 103 billion pieces in 2000 to 56.7 billion pieces in 2018, nearly a 50% drop in 16 years.
As the volume has decreased, the number of postal employees has also declined. There were nearly 700,000 postal employees in 2006, falling to less than 500,000 in 2015, a sizable drop in a short period of time.
Source: USPS
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