Hey. come on down and get in line:
The post office will run out of money this year unless it gets help, Postmaster General John Potter told Congress on Wednesday as he sought permission to cut delivery to five days a week.
"We are facing losses of historic proportion. Our situation is critical," Potter told a House panel.
The agency lost $2.8 billion last year and is looking at much larger losses this year. Reducing mail delivery from six days to five days a week could save $3.5 billion annually, Potter said.
Losing all that money, and still Congress balks at what seems to be a reasonable step to deal with it:
Potter first raised the possibility of delivery cutbacks in January, but the idea has not been warmly received in Congress.
"With the Postal Service facing budget shortfalls, the subcommittee will consider a number of options to restore financial stability and examine ways for the Postal Service to continue to operate without cutting services," subcommittee chairman Stephen F. Lynch, D-Mass., said.
Lynch said the financial stability of the Postal Service is "critical to the American expectation of affordable six-day mail delivery."
I have zero expectation of "affordable six-day mail delivery." I couldn't care less. What about you? I can live with five days -- even four. It's not like any of us are waiting desperately by the mailbox for critical news of where that new railroad line is finally going to go. Dang -- over by New Haven. Guess that's the place to build the new cattle pens.
