Powell Post Office operations unaffectedOn Tuesday in Washington, D.C., Postmaster General John Potter announced that the preferred alternative to relieve the financially-strapped U.S. Postal Service is to scrap Saturday deliveries.If Congress approves the five-day delivery proposition, the earliest it could happen would be January 2011, said a post office spokesman.

“This seems to be the best step,” said Al DeSarro, communication spokesman for the postal service's western region in Denver.

“It really wouldn't affect us,” said Wendy Nielsen, Powell postmaster.

The Powell Post Office counter is open from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturdays, and so it would remain, with or without Saturday mail deliveries.

At a conservative estimate, sans Saturdays, the Postal Service would save $3.5 to $5 billion nationwide per year, DeSarro said.

“Just the savings in fuel alone would be astronomical,” Nielsen said.

The Postal Service has a $68-billion operating budget per year. Last year, it had a $3.8-billion deficit due to volume reduction. By 2020, the Postal Service is projected to be $238 billion in debt, DeSarro said.

People don't want to support the post office with taxes, Nielsen said. “They (Postal Service officials) are going to have to do something.”

If Saturday deliveries would have been cut in 2009, the Postal Service would have probably broken even that year, DeSarro said.

The postmaster general is pushing it forward in Congress.

Volume is down, much of it due to Internet advertising.

In 2006, the Postal Service delivered 213 billion items. It was at 177 billion items in 2009, DeSarro said.

According to Gallup, Rasmussen and Roper polls, 70 percent of the public supported the five-day delivery schedule if it will keep the Postal Service afloat, DeSarro said.

“I guess I'm optimistic it's going to happen,” DeSarro said.

Post offices that are currently open on Saturdays will remain open on Saturdays, DeSarro said.

Despite dismal figures, DeSarro said he believes the Postal Service has held its own in the shaky economy.

“We have managed our Postal Service extremely well,” DeSarro said. “No tax-supported money; I think we've done about the best we can do.”

The postmaster general has said there will be no stamp increases in 2010. Big businesses and big advertisers oppose the increases, DeSarro said.

If the five-day scenario comes about, DeSarro said he anticipated no layoffs, although early retirement incentive programs have been in effect.

It's business as usual in Powell.