Unexpected Cuts May Affect Your Normal Routine

by erica ~ February 12, 2009

Besides the now daily (hourly?) company failures and lay-offs, these are two surprising cuts due to the weakening economy:

First - according to this story on Gothamist, Saturday USPS mail service in New York City may be suspended.

Although we sometimes wish that we didn’t receive bills on Saturdays…or Monday through Friday, the US Postal Service reportedly asked Congress to consider allowing them to suspend or cease Saturday services due to the increase in online bill paying and higher gas prices.

The article says that as a result of declining mail volume, the USPS will be raising the price of the stamp to 44 cents in May. If it makes you feel any better, Canada does not have Saturday delivery and I don’t think that anyone has lost any sleep over it.

Second - more evidence that the print newspaper is on its way out: this week’s Wall Street Journal discusses how the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press are cutting home delivery down to just three days a week, instead of the usual seven.

This cutback will give home-bound/unplugged readers less information about what’s going on in their local area - especially, according to the article - obituaries. Although information will be accessible through the newspapers’ websites, many of their ritual obituary readers are older citizens who may not be as computer-literate as the younger generation. Local funeral homes are counting on family and friends to spread the news by word of mouth, email blasts, and Facebook (this sounds a little disturbing but it might be the new trend in these changing times).

WSJ’s response is clever: You don’t want to die on a Sunday in Detroit because people will not find out until Thursday.

Even though these cuts are not exactly employee-friendly, I hope they will positively impact our economy!

Erica Berkovich an Associate Account Executive at Mediashop PR.  She is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Corporate Communications at Baruch.