Melissa Team | Postal Service, USPS | door-to-door delivery, doorstop delivery, Saturday mail delivery

By Abby Garcia Telleria

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has proposed a plan that would eliminate doorstop delivery, and require residents to get their mail at a curbside or secure cluster box. The plan – known as the Postal Reform Act of 2013 (H.R. 2748) – is to help the beleaguered U.S. Postal Service® slash costs and restructure its finances, after losing billions of dollars each year.

“The commonsense reforms in this legislation will restore the United States Postal Service® to long-term financial solvency while maintaining high-quality universal service for all Americans,” said Issa in a statement. Issa is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

According to CNN Money, delivering mail is the Postal Service’s largest fixed cost at $30 billion. Scrapping door-to-door deliveries would save the agency $4 billion or more each year. About a quarter of addresses receive mail through door-to-door delivery, while more than 70 percent of the nation already receive mail via curbside or clusterbox delivery, the proposal states.

But the door-to-door delivery proposal is just one facet of Issa’s broad-ranging bill. Other highlights of the plan include having USPS® shift to a more modified Saturday delivery schedule, which would allow the Postal Service™ to maintain Saturday delivery of packages and medicine – while phasing out the delivery of mail, such as bills and advertisements.

Earlier this year, Congress passed a “continuing resolution” – basically prohibiting 5-day delivery by ordering the Postal Service to continue Saturday mail delivery.

Issa’s proposal, on the other hand, calls for the end of Saturday delivery, but continue six-day package delivery service.

We’ll continue to update you on more developments!

– Abby Garcia Telleria is a marketing specialist for Melissa Data