Amazon Takes Stand Against Ending Saturday Mail

Amazon Takes Stand Against Ending Saturday Mail
Doug Caverly | Staff Writer

Small businesses that rely on the United States Postal Service to get merchandise to their customers may have a friend in Amazon. Amazon has come out in opposition of the USPS's proposal of discontinuing Saturday deliveries.

As Amazon Vice President for Global Public Policy Paul Misener said in a statement to Congress, "Customers have come to appreciate and expect Saturday delivery. While they may be willing to wait until Monday or Tuesday for a bill they don't really want; an advertisement they didn't ask for; or a magazine to which they subscribed long ago; they expect the items they purchased this week to be delivered as soon as possible."

Which makes sense. Heck, in many cases, Saturday deliveries are even preferable, since a customer who works a nine-to-five, Monday-through-Friday sort of job will have more time to enjoy a new product if he or she gets it mid-afternoon on a Saturday.

Then here's another problem with the USPS discontinuing its Saturday deliveries: big corporations would probably have much better luck than small businesses when trying to negotiate with other organizations about a replacement service.

So it could be a very good thing that Amazon, with its market cap of almost $53 billion, has taken this position. Just about any coalition of small businesses would have trouble generating as many headlines and as much awareness.

Of course, if the USPS isn't able to save money in this manner, we could be looking at more expensive stamps or some other undesirable outcome.