Beginning This Fall, No More Saturday Mail Delivery

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Beginning this Fall, mail delivery on Saturdays will be a thing of the past.

The U.S. Postal Service has announced that beginning August 5th, mail will only be delivered and picked up Monday through Friday. Packages, however, will still be delivered Monday through Saturday.

The Postal Service expects to save $2 billion a year by cutting Saturday mail delivery.

"The Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and responds to the financial realities resulting from America's changing mailing habits," said Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General and CEO.

Postal officials said they decided to keep the six-day a week package delivery because they've seen strong growth in that area, a 14 percent increase since 2010, and think it will continue to have growth throughout the coming decade.

Mail addressed to PO Boxes will continue to be delivered on Saturdays. Post Offices currently open on Saturdays will remain open on Saturdays.

Market research conducted by the Postal Service found that nearly 70 percent of Americans supported the switch to five-day delivery as a way for the Postal Service to reduce costs.

Since 2006, the Postal Service has reduced its annual cost base by approximately $15 billion, reduced the size of its career workforce by 193,000 or 28 percent, and has consolidated more than 200 mail processing locations.