by TheChicagoTribune

The postmaster general of the United States floated the idea of eliminating the delivery of mail on Saturdays to help boost our nation’s sagging postal bottom line.

In 1957 (see image):

Tribune news archives show the idea came around again in 1962, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1987, 1992 (when Postmaster General “Carvin’” Marvin Runyon suggested going to four-day-a-week home delivery), 2001 and 2009. And no doubt there were other years when, out of sheer weariness, we didn’t bother to note the re-emergence in Washington of this perpetual nonstarter.

But what was once a threat — in April of 1957 the outcry was so great when mail service was suspended for one Saturday that Congress restored it the following Monday — is now a promise.

Earlier this week, U.S. Postal Service officials, facing a shortfall of more than $7 billion this year and $238 billion in losses over the next decade, proposed a 10-year recovery plan that includes saving an estimated $40 billion by eliminating Saturday delivery.

Public use of the postal system peaked in 2006 when we mailed 213 billion items, according to USPS spokesman Dave Lewin. In the wake of the economic downturn and the increased use of electronic communications for everything from issuing party invitations to paying bills, that number dropped to 177 billion last year, and analysts expect it to fall to 150 billion by 2020, Lewin said.

So I offered this idea online: Keep Saturday delivery. Get rid of Monday through Friday.

Really.

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